


He is finally sleeping

by Umerue



Series: Diary of Darcy von Doom [2]
Category: Fantastic Four (Comicverse), Fantastic Four (Movieverse), Marvel (Comics), Marvel Cinematic Universe, Thor (Movies)
Genre: Evil Plans, F/M, Family Drama, Friendship, Gallows Humor, Gen, Not Beta Read, Tragedy, War
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-09-19
Updated: 2014-10-13
Packaged: 2018-02-18 00:59:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 18
Words: 30,842
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2329439
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Umerue/pseuds/Umerue
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Darcy von Doom did not believe in prophecies.  She didn't need them, since everything was fine. Life could not have been better. She was a queen, a mother and a co-dictator. But prophecies are sneaky - they come true the moment you least expect.<br/>Only thing worse than a prophecy is the guy making the prophecies. And saving the world never comes cheaply. </p><p>A sequel to "God Save Us from the Queen", although reading it will not be necessary.  AU, multiple POVs.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Never come back when I'm sleeping

**Author's Note:**

> For newcomers, this is the world where Darcy Lewis married Victor von Doom (a forced marriage), and through different choices, became a villain, a mother, and the queen of Latveria. She found out that she actually liked being queen more than being Jane's sidekick. She was poisoned by friends, and after a brief death, she developed a power to manipulate souls. Vampires declared a war to humans, and Darcy killed Dracula, who had murdered Jane and made her a vampire. Thor never forgave Darcy for killing Jane-vampire in the last battle.
> 
> For old friends, this is not the story I was supposed to write next, but it's practically writing itself. It's all about Franklin's prophecy.

**Ten months after the defeat of Dracula**

Darcy

The sound of something heavy crashing against wall downstairs woke me up. Cursing, I pulled a pillow over my head and tried to get back to sleep, but the noise didn't stop. The sound of breaking glass made me grind my teeth together, as the lack of sleep hammered my head. I was not going to get up. No. It was night. Decent people slept at night. If I found out who was making that racket, I swore I'd see them shot at first light.  
"It's clobbering time!", the roar was loud enough to pass through the stone walls of Castle Doom. Against my fervent prayers to any god who was listening, I heard an angry wail from the cradle. I wanted to cry for sheer desperation, because I had listened that sound every night for a week now, never sleeping longer than two hours, and I would kill the bastard who had woken her Royal Highness. I pushed the covers aside and pulled the dressing gown over my nightshirt. I held the crying baby against my shoulder, and opened the writing desk drawer. The dressing gown had two pockets. One for my taser, and after a short consideration, I loaded Victor's Mauser pistol and put it on other pocket. The lack of sleep was severely affecting my judgement. 

The noise got only louder when we walked down the grand stairs. It was coming from the great hall. I recognized the voices - apparently we were hosting Fantastic Fools at 3 AM, and they were destroying my furniture. Sophie started to sob against my shoulder.  
"Hold her.", I told 621-161 who had followed us from upstairs. Then I took the taser in my hand and slipped inside. 

The fight was on. They were making so much noise nobody even heard me coming.Storm siblings were fighting against Victor, and Johnny had evidently burned my new, nice curtains. Richards was stretching himself between twenty Doombots trying to rip him apart, while Thing was just about to heave a bench on them.  
"It's clobbering time!", the idiot yelled again. I jumped forwards and hit my taser on his neck. The electricity burst was short but sweet, and Thing fell like a tree, breaking the stone flab floor. The crash was big enough to make them finally notice me. I rose up from the floor and strode towards Richards, who was still held by Doombots.  
"So that's where my new fusion battery disappeared.", Victor remarked in mildly surprised voice. Sophie's angry wail from other room was easy to discern. My head hurt. I shifted, targeting Richards, and shot a white line of light towards his soul. The line hit the target, and I let it stay. Shifting back, I took the pistol from my other pocket and hissed:  
"Do you know what time it is? It's 3.20 at night, and I haven't slept for three nights because Sophie is teething. You came here, trashed my home and YOU WOKE HER UP!", my voice rose into shrill. "I was so sure I could finally sleep, and then you come here, uninvited."  
"But--", Richards tried to interrupt me.  
"No buts.", I hissed, pointing the Mauser at him. He tried to stretch away. "No stupid nonsense about war crimes or world peace. If you are such a genius, how is it possible you have no idea of time zones?"  
"I'm holding his soul.", I said to Sue and Johnny. And I pulled the line a bit for good measure. Richard's face grew pale as a sheet. "Now you are going to clean up the mess you made, pay for damages by Paypal transfer and he, as your leader, is going to make Sophie sleep. Otherwise I swear I'll rip him apart."  
"And then?", Johnny asked, swallowing.  
"You get the fuck out of here. And never come back when I'm sleeping.", I aimed at Johnny and pressed the trigger. The bullet shot by his ear, grazing the earlobe before hitting the stone wall.  
"You missed.", he said, wiping his bloody earlobe.  
"She did not.", Victor corrected, letting go of Sue Storm. "Dead people can't clean, but those who are lucky enough to be still bleeding, would do well to remember what they are told to do."

Twenty minutes later I was sitting on the bench with Victor, safe inside his force field, and watching how Fantastic Fools cleaned up. Reed Richards was really bad with babies. He kept flinging desperate looks over his shoulder at Sue, when Sophie screamed in his arms, but Sue was very strictly not paying any attention to him. Johnny was collecting pieces of broken furniture while an accountant from ministry of finance walked around the room, making list of damages.  
"Do you want hot chocolate?", I asked from Sue.  
"It would be great, thanks."  
"Go to kitchen and tell them to make three mugs of hot chocolate. I want lots of whipped cream.", I commanded 621-161. My head hurt like hell. The lack of sleep was beating my poor brain in time with my pulse.  
"Could you?", I pleaded Victor.  
"Of course.", he said and cupped his fingers against the back of my head, pushing hair out of way. The pain of healing magic was actually easier than the headache. I drew a deep breath, relaxed against his hand and closed my eyes for a second. Oh, it was lovely being married to man who could just magic my headache away.  
"You know it's not going to go away before you sleep.", he reminded, pulling me closer. "This is just a temporary solution."  
"I'm not against sleeping. She is.", I waved towards Sophie who was staring at us, her little face red and annoyed over Reed Richard's shoulder.  
"You said she is having teeth?", Sue asked and accepted a mug of hot chocolate from 621-161. "I remember that phase with Franklin and Valeria. It was plain awful. When did you last sleep?"  
"I think it was between Monday and Tuesday.", I leaned against Victor's shoulder and started eating the whipped cream.  
"Sunday and Monday.", he corrected. "You spent Monday night walking around the throne room and singing Five Little Elephants."  
Sophies screams had changed into screeching of joy. Reed Richards was holding her by arms and helping her to walk over unconscious Thing. She jumped up and down on her pudgy feet. Victor snickered.  
"What are you doing, Reed?", Storm called him out. "You really should not strengthen any villainous tendencies she might have inherited. Making her dance on a body of fallen enemy is simply not right! I'm calling the child protection services. If they have any in Latveria."  
"I'm merely hoping she'll get tired.", Reed replied. "And my ears were hurting."  
"I'm just wondering", Sue said, "why are you staying up with her? You have a castle full of servants who could watch over her. I know it's hard to come in terms with letting others to care your baby, especially the first one, but you just can't go on like this. It's impossible, especially considering our line of work. Superheroics can take days at the time, and you can't really postpone the mission until you get a nanny. If the world is ending or vampires attack, you have to leave on spot. It would be far better for both of you if you got someone while it's still peaceful, and Sophie could get used to her nurse bit by bit."  
"I guess you are right.", I sighed, closing my eyes. I was so close to drifting into sleep. I breathed Victor's familiar scent of metal and soap, leaning against his armor. For once, Sophie was not between us, screaming at me or clinging from my skirt. The headache was gone. I might be in heaven.  
"Believe me, I know what I'm talking about.", Sue said and grimaced when accountant gave her a tablet with accounting of damage. "You can always take the child care costs out of science budget. Looking at your bill, I can tell Reed's is going to be significantly slashed this month." Her mouth was a thin line, when she entered her details and the payment was processed.  
"What is Reed doing?", I asked, feeling so very tired.  
"Reciting digits of π to Sophie.", Victor replied, pulling me on his lap. I let my head rest against his chest.  
"Is he trying to bore her into sleep?"  
"Yes. It's working.", Victor said. "I'm going to take Susan's excellent suggestion and hire people to take care of Sophie. In shifts."  
"Whatever.", I murmured, not willing to make an effort to argue. Lovely, relaxed warmth was spreading through my body. Last thing I remember was Victor saying to Sue:  
"You have done Doom a favor tonight, Susan, and for that I will let you leave without further violence. But be quiet. She is finally sleeping."


	2. The cost of superhero living

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> F4 discuss the rising costs of superhero living.

Sue

"Guess who called me today, Reed?", I nudged my husband. He was once again working on the math in the breakfast table, oblivious to world around him.  
"Mm.", he murmured.  
"Reed.", I said sharply. "Darcy von Doom called and told she has let go of your soul. I thought you would be interested."  
"How do you know if it's true?", Johnny asked, wolfing down his breakfast cereal. "We're talking about the Evil Queen here."  
"She wouldn't lie.", Franklin replied.  
"And how do you know that?", Johnny pointed at him. "You have met her only once."  
Franklin did not reply. He poured himself a cup of coffee, and pretended to focus on the newspaper. He did that a lot. I was worried about his lack of friends, and the time he spent alone in his room, door locked. But with his powers, it was understandable. They had always set him apart of others.  
"Would you care to elaborate, Franklin?", Reed asked.  
He looked up, two bright spots of red burning on his cheeks. I noticed for the first time that they were slightly fluffy with hair. My baby was trying to grow a beard.  
"No.", he said defiantly.  
"Franklin, you are not telling me the truth. How do you know she is not holding my soul?", Reed asked, his voice firm. "This is important."  
"Because she wouldn't.", Franklin said, clearly uncomfortable.  
"Wouldn't.", Johnny repeated. "You don't know what the Evil Queen is capable of."  
"Stop calling Uncle Doom's wife Evil Queen. It's not respectful.", Valeria announced.  
"Franklin, I'm your father. I demand an answer.", Reed said. I shook my head. Anything beginning with 'I'm your father' never ended well.  
Franklin stood up, slamming his bowl of cereals down on the table hard. He was bright red.  
"If you have to know, I've been watching her for almost two years. And I'm not going to answer any more of your nosy questions. Get a life!", he yelled, ran from the kitchen and slammed his bedroom door. I heard the lock clicking shut.  
Reed just stared after him. Ben held a big spoon uncomfortably in his stone fingers and said:  
"Wow. Your 17-year-old son has been peeping at Lady Doom. I hope you have checked there are no Latverian listening devices in here. Our last foray there wasn't that much a success."  
"You could say so.", Johnny agreed. "I've never seen you go down so fast."  
"Says the boy who had to sweep like a maid.", Ben replied.  
"You two should just stop it.", I said, feeling annoyed. "I think we got out remarkably easily. It could have been much worse."  
"Sue is right.", Reed supported me. "We completely forgot to include her presence in our plan. It's hard to think Victor as a family man."  
We all were quiet for a while. It was disturbing idea.  
"From that point of view, going to Latveria doesn't sound so good. We did break into her home in the middle of the night, trashed her hall and attacked her husband.", I said slowly.  
"And woke up her baby. Don't forget that.", Reed shuddered.  
"It's no big deal.", Johnny said. "We do it all the time. How many times Doom has attacked us?"  
"It's not the same. Victor is different brand of devious. He might build a doomsday machine to get us, but she would promise an interview for FactualToday or some other show and tell another cleverly composed true story which would drain our finances for months. Do you remember the one after you poisoned her, Johnny?", I asked sharply.  
"How could I forget? We had to eat store-brand corn flakes for half a year, and they told I was not suitable for Axe commercial after all.", Johnny pouted. "I had planned to buy a new sports car with the money."  
"Kellogg's are out of order already, thanks to bill of damages done in Castle Doom. For example, those stone slabs Ben broke when he fell, were billed for one hundred dollars for a square meter. Plus worker's salary to replace them, complete with Latverian social security fees. Other furniture. And the cost of three Doombots we destroyed breaking in.", I said. "We simply can't take another hit in the bank account right now. Those twenty minutes cost us 173 826, 30 dollars."  
Even Johnny turned pale. Since we didn't have time to hold regular jobs, and weren't employed with financially generous organizations like Shield, our only source of income were Reed's patents and F4 related merchandise. His inventions were great, but not practical for mass production, and finding a buyer wasn't always easy.  
"I think we need to make amends.", Reed said slowly. "Just to make sure she stays happy."

 

 


	3. Gifts

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Darcy gets two disturbing birthday gifts.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A new plot appeared, so I had to change tags and the story description. 
> 
> You can find pictures of Hazmat Suit here. http://www.sccfd.org/clothing_hazmat.html

It was my birthday. I turned 29, and I had gotten a present. From Reed Richards, of all people.

I hated international mail. Especially that kind which had to be opened in level three laboratory, usually used for bio weapons and/or nuclear testing. Level A Hazmat suit was really uncomfortable and made moving difficult. It tended to blow up like balloon when I breathed, although it had one-way pressure bleed valve. Five layers of protection and full encapsulation weren't enough, no. One look at the sender's name, and Victor insisted I would have wear the extra layer which protected from fire and explosions if I was going to watch while he opened the packet. But I am a woman with principles: I want to see what's in my mail, even if it means standing two and half hours in laboratory wearing Hazmat suit while Victor carefully dismantled everything with pincers.  
One would not expect a dummy to have so many little parts. But if the sender was Reed Richards, I should not be surprised.

"This was rather cleverly done for Richards' work.", Victor said, pointing at a tiny piece of metal, now dissembled, which had been inside the rubber core. "The movement sensor tracks the sleep cycles of the baby, and starts to vibrate gently when sleep becomes light. The vibration sequence resembles the neurological patterns of stress hormone release, encouraging sleep. If the sensors sense discomfort, the dummy emits a harmless pressure field which numbs the nerve endings in the mouth."  
"Look at this. This unit tracked the information from the dummy and gave alarm when the baby was going to wake up. But it has one part which doesn't make sense at all."  
"Nothing here makes sense. Why would Reed Richards send me some kind of super dummy?", I said, feeling annoyed. Two and half hours in Hazmat suit for something as harmless as this?  
"You frightened him?", Victor suggested.  
"That's hard to believe."  
"You forget that this is Reed Richards we are talking about, and what frightens him, not me. No matter how she has grown during our acquittance, Sue Richards is nice and gentle. You are not." he said dryly.  
"Is this my cue to burst into tears?", I queried.  
"I'm not that nice either. Being nice is vastly overrated; it only leads men to do things they would rather not to do, all for the sake of insignificant people and their opinions. But stop leading Doom astray and listen. This part here", he lifted it up with pincers "is odd one. It is best described as a blocking device, which works in astral level. It emits a signal, much like a white noise, which makes surveillance impossible. The odd thing is that it is specifically engineered to work against some one's power signature, and I don't know whose it is."  
"Could you add some kind of alarm to it when the blocking starts to work?", I asked. "I don't like the idea of Reed Richards trying to block me against unknown somebody. It doesn't feel safe. It must be something truly horrible to make him do something like that. Maybe it has tentacles, like Old Ones in Lovecraft novels, in which case I would prefer to see it and fight it instead of letting it stalk around."  
"Any other requirements?"  
"Put it into my bracelet. I'm not going to carry a cheap key chain with F4 logo on it. Richards has no sense of style.", I wrinkled my nose.  
"I'm going to reassemble the dummy as well. We will keep it."  
"Can I finally take this suit off?"  
"Once we have left the laboratory, you may. I have a present for you as well, a much nicer one, and it requires a skin contact."

"Skin contact" by Victor von Doom did not mean hot sex in four-poster bed. I should have known better by now. We had that, as well, especially after Sophie had moved to her own room, and all that suppressed emotion in him was just wonderful. But no, a gift requiring skin contact was not a new underwear, or anything I could have expected based on my earlier experiences. Doom took pride in being unique. I truly should have known better.

"Why your present includes unpleasant surgical operation?", I complained as I laid on my left side on the laboratory table and Victor was preparing sterile instruments. "What's wrong with flowers or chocolate?"  
"They are common and unimaginative. Not fit for you."  
"I'm not sure your flattery will make this better."  
"Doom does not flatter.", he said and wiped my back with disinfectant. "It was a simple statement of fact."  
"Are you going to do something with my spine?", I raised my head. "I have to warn you: I'm not like Imperial Agent in Star Wars: The Old Republic, who refuses to be sedated so she'll see what the unreliable watcher X is doing to her."  
"I won't sedate you. It is needlessly dangerous."  
"What?"  
"Stay down.", Victor said impatiently and pushed me back down. "I know your pain tolerance better than you do. This will work out just fine."  
"Your idea of gifts is seriously wrong.", I grumbled.  
"Not as much as Loki's. This isn't poisonous or deadly. Speaking about Loki, he has signed the deal with MTV, and filming of "Dinner with Loki", has began. He asked if he could borrow my dungeons for a special episode, and would I consider appearing in it. I told him that I appear television only when I'm delivering threats.", Victor's voice made clear he found the idea very distasteful. "Now, bend your neck towards your chest, and push your knees as near as your chin as you can. I need to inject the anesthetic into the cerebrospinal fluid."  
"Loki should really reconsider his infatuation with you.", I blinked tears from my eyes as I felt a needle entering between vertebras. "That hurts."  
"It's done now.", Victor said, and I felt a numbness taking over my lower body. "Can you feel this?"  
"Feel what?"  
"I'm pricking you with knife point."  
"Don't tell me what you are doing.", I ordered. "I'll scream if I feel anything."  
"As you wish.", he said and got to work.

  
Clock ticked on the wall as Victor did whatever he was doing. He hummed quietly under his breath.  
I stared at the hands of the clock and wondered idly why I didn't have normal marriage with common gifts instead of dubious surgery performed by man who had given himself the credentials.  
"Chocolate and flowers-man would bore me to death.", I said to Victor.  
"I have known it since you threw Doombot from window.", he said absentmindedly. "Besides, why should I give you chocolate and flowers when I could give you something as unseen and exquisite as you?"  
"If Loki heard you talking like that, he would totally do you."  
"As if I would let him.", Victor sniffed. "There were many fools like him when I went to USA to study. Men and women throwing themselves at my feet. I was young gypsy without a penny on my name and still better than they were. I knew it, and it infuriated them. Some people just crave to be broken and dominated, and the fools thought I would supply. Doom is no ones' dominatrix. I had better things to do with my time even then."  
"I think it's common misconception.", I replied.  
"It's a foolish idea which discards ambition completely. Why would I bother with something as trivial as sadomasochism? If I want to exert my will over others, I can rule whole nations, take over the world, battle against unseen powers of this galaxy. Do something great instead of seedy bedroom games."  
"Did he ever ask?"  
"Several times. I have lost the count by now.", Victor said calmly.  
"Are you stabbing me again? I'm starting to feel tingling."  
"I'm almost finished. Only a stitch or two... Done.", he said. "Try to move your legs and stand up when you feel ready."

I stood up, feeling my legs carefully. They worked just fine.  
"What was the point? I don't feel any different.", I asked Victor who was cleaning his instruments.  
For an answer, he turned towards me and threw a scalpel. The knife flew through air, straight towards my leg, and my heart jumped. I felt a odd, cold sensation and heard a thunk when scalpel hit my left thigh, dropping on the floor.  
I looked down and saw I was covered in silver metal. All of me. I felt my face, which was hard and unyielding. My fingers were coated in metal. Even my hair.  
Victor sent a magical blast at me. It hit me on chest, and the impact made me stagger a few steps back.  
"Are you mad?", I yelled.  
"No. I'm a genius.", his voice betrayed a grin behind the mask. "How do you like your new armor?"  
"This is it?", I asked. I saw my reflection from the steel cabin doors, and I was astonished. It was something I had never seen before. It was like he had cast me in metal, but the armor didn't hinder me at all. It weighed nothing. It was truly a thing of beauty.  
"It's beautiful, Victor. Thank you.", I beamed at him. He caressed my face, and the armor withdrew, disappearing as suddenly as it had came.  
"I'm pleased you like it. It's made of liquid metal, element of my own creation. A combination of mystics and science. It is tied to your central nervous system. When you feel threatened and your nerves start firing impulses for fight or flight, the armor activates. Normally it's undetectable. Since the metal is liquid, you can manipulate it with mental commands. You could create weapons, shape shift, and it also serves with adequate body armor. But it has two weaknesses as well. You would do well to remember them. Unlike my own armor, it's magnetic. Ordinary magnets won't bother you, but someone with powers of Magneto could. According to my test results, your ethereal power is sufficient to shield you if you focus. Second thing: liquid metal conducts electricity. I know you hate being electrocuted, but with your natural resistance, it won't kill you."  
"I take back everything I said about your gifts.", I said, feeling warm and fuzzy. "This is loveliest present I've ever got."  
"I am glad you like it, because you are going to need it.", Victor said calmly. "Tomorrow I am going to send you to war, together with Silver Sablinova."  
The warm and fuzzy feeling was gone the minute he said that.


	4. The Bitch of the South

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Another nice and civilized dinner at Castle Doom.

"Yesterday I got a cry of help from government of Slokovia.", Victor spread the map on the table. "The country has been unstable for long time because of religious strife. After Asgardian's existence became public knowledge, Slokovian peasants decided to start worshipping Thor. How they got the idea, I do not know yet, but I have people working on it. That is what you get for not educating people but giving them free choice of television and unlimited internet access."  
"This is problematic for us.", I said, following the borders of Slokovia with my fingers. Latveria was protected by mountains from all sides except southeast, our border with Slokovia. Geographically, the two countries must have been one at some point, since both were surrounded by Malhela range and Carpathians. Political scientist in me wondered why Latveria had not annexed Slokovia. It would make lots of sense, giving us a mountain range on southeast border and completing the ring of protection. Knowing Thor had sworn to see me dead, I did not like the idea of a cult of Thunder God practically on my doorstep.  
"Aleksandr Propkov, the baron of Slokovia, faced increasing pressure from Orthodox Catholic Church and the pagan minority, and all kinds of fools began to flock there. Red Skull offered his help to pacify the country, and his methods of doing it were brutal and bloody. The strife evolved into civil war between oppressed peasants and Propkov's army, which is led by Red Skull's mercenaries. Baron Propkov started to see his failure in choosing his allies, and Red Skull imprisoned him in his own castle. His heir, lady Maria, managed to escape over the border yesterday and made an official plea of help to Latveria and Symkaria. She hopes we will rescue his father, and will remain my guest for the time being. I agreed to this plea, and so did King Stefan of Symkaria."  
"And what about Bitch of the South?", I asked bitterly.  
"It is not good diplomacy to keep calling her that.", Victor said disapprovingly.  
"Do you know what she sent me for my birthday? A tube of stretch mark cream, labeled extra strong, because ' _so many women let themselves go after giving birth to a child, and I just don't think you can afford to do that'_.", I quoted. "I  hate international mail."  
"Why would she do that?"  
"It might have something to do with a dwarven sex pox I heard she got from a tall, mysterious stranger few months ago. Alien STD, causes very uncomfortable blistering in intimate areas for six weeks. I sent her a packet of condoms and leaflet about safe sex, implying that she really should know better at her age.", I sniffed.  
Victor sighed, sliding his open hand over his mask.   
"Are you implying that you asked Loki to give her some kind of alien disease?"  
"I have not influenced Silver Sablinova's choice of partners in any way. It was simply her own foolishness which got her into that situation. I might have pointed her out for Loki, but nothing else. Victor, please try to focus on the original subject. We were talking about war here.", I said regally.  
"Yes. Since I have had previous alliances with Red Skull, I can't act on this personally. Doom might need him in the future, but not as a neighbor. I discussed available options in length with King Stefan, and we agreed that best course of action is to send a strike team into Slokovia to rescue Baron Propkov. Symkaria is sending Silver Sablinova and her team of mercenaries, Wild Cards, and you are going to join them. I will stay in Latveria and command the army. You are not experienced enough to do that in times of war, but you will do just fine with Sablinova and Wild Cards. If you remember that you are a queen, acting in official capacity, and not a child playing pranks.", Victor gave me a dark look with a warning included.  
"I understand.", I said, looking at the map. "But I hardly think that rescuing Propkov is sufficient to Latverian interests. I don't want to have a Thor cult at my doorstep, and geographically, Slokovia does not make sense at all."  
"It does not.", Victor agreed, his voice warm and appreciating. "And that is why I'm sending you instead of somebody else. Accidents do happen in rescue operations, especially when the team has inexperienced members. Peasants decide to make one last stand against their tyrannical ruler, or Red Skull might be provoked to do something in his anger. Or baron Propkov could be persuaded to step down peacefully and pass his throne to his heir. Silver Sablinova is excellent mercenary, but she is still a mercenary, who can't make independent offers or decisions in the name of Symkaria. A quick-thinking person with sufficient authority can change the world while Silver Sablinova contacts king Stefan and waits for him to make up his mind."  
  


"Here you are.", Silver Sablinova said, leaning against the gym door frame. "I take it that you were as pleased as I to hear the news about our mission."  
"It is always a pleasure to see you. Your mail, less so.", I flashed her a smile with teeth.  
"Have you any idea how many doctors I had to visit before I found an antibiotic cream which worked on blisters?", she asked.  
"Like I said, at your age, woman really should know better than letting strangers lick her intimate areas.", I replied, crossing my arms over my chest.  
"I truly hate you."  
"No more than I hate you."  
We stared at each other for a long time. Then Silver Sablinova said:  
"Our position is rather difficult. You are queen of Latveria; I can't hurt you without consequences. I'm the official ambassador of Symkaria; you can't do anything to me. But if I kicked your ass now, it would make Doom to see sense and I would not have to drag you all way to Slokovia. You will just endanger us and slow us down."  
"In your dreams.", I sniffed. "You couldn't kick my ass even if you tried."  
"A bit of pale powder does not make a woman into fighter.", Sablinova looked down her nose at me.  
"Do you want to spar?", I queried. "This is a gym, after all. A friendly sparring never hurt anyone."  
"I think I would like it. There is nothing my king or yours can say about it. It is only a good practice to find out how inept you are now, instead of real situation."  
"We shall see.", I said simply and chose my best angry song from the sound system. "Be nice and lock the door. We will not need audience for this."

 

"Could you please bring me a pack of ice?", I asked from a servant, who took one look at me and hurried into kitchen.  
"Thank you.", I accepted a packet of frozen peas, and a linen napkin he was considerately offering. "This will do nicely. Also, miss Sablinova will be here shortly. She requires a very soft cushion for her chair. With a cold pack placed on it. Discreetly, of course."  
"I will see to it."   
"Excellent.", I said and glided into dining room. I took my place at the head of the table and leaned backwards in my chair, holding the pack of frozen peas against my bleeding nose. Choosing a crimson gown for tonight had been a stroke of genius. 

The flow of blood had mostly stopped when our dinner guests arrived with Victor. Silver Sablinova was moving less gracefully than usual. When she discovered the arrangement on her designated sitting place, Silver Sablinova looked a me questioning and I awarded her the slightest nod. As the first course was served, the waiter discreetly collected the pack of frozen peas from my place and deposited the bloody napkin I slipped to him behind the table cloth.  
Victor at other end of the table was clearly aware something was going on, but I avoided his eyes and concentrated making pleasant, polite conversation with people seated near me. Silver Sablinova, who sat on Victor's right hand, was not especially lively tonight, but she took up the conversation starters Victor offered, like a good diplomat should do. Lady Maria Propkov, a slightly frightened youth of nineteen years sitting on Victor's left, started to relax and revealed herself a very talkative person.   
If my mother's idea of stealing my inheritance and spending it for upper class living had it's obvious drawbacks, one thing I did find useful were the rules. Never speak for longer than four minutes; never speak of yourself, stick to topics of general interest, speak easily but not too much. Knowing which fork to use is not a bad skill for political scientist.  
Everything went very nicely until the dessert was served. It was dark chocolate ice cream with a dash of chili and coffee liquor. The taste was sweet to begin with, but it ended with a spicy burn which made me sneeze.  
"Excuse me.", I said, and lowered my napkin again on my lap. Then I felt Victor staring at me. When I looked back, he discreetly brushed his mask under the nose when nobody saw.  
Oh, hell. I copied the gesture and noticed my fingers were sticky with blood. Calmly, I took the napkin again and pretended to wipe my mouth with it, just aiming a bit higher.  
"Doom wishes to thank you for your company tonight. Refreshments have been laid out in the music room, and those of you who are interested in art, might want to see a Dürer I recently acquired.", Victor stood up. "Boris, would you show the way to our guests? We will be along shortly."

As soon as the door clicked softly shut behind the guests, Victor asked:  
"Would you mind telling me what is happening here? Your nose is tilted and you started bleeding during the dinner. Silver Sablinova looks like she has taken overdose of codeine and she was sitting on a cushion. With ice pack on it."  
"I was hoping you would not notice.", I replied and spat blood discreetly in my napkin.   
"Do you think Doom a fool? You tried your best not to look at me and Silver Sablinova was the very face of politeness every time you were mentioned in conversation.", Victor took the napkin away from me. "Now, let me see what she did."  
"I might have a bleeding nose, but I burned her ass.", I said. "I found it very satisfactory, especially knowing burn gels don't work very well on ethereal damage. But because it was just a friendly sparring, like we agreed, I asked the medical officer to give her something for the pain."  
"You are utterly hopeless.", Victor said. He was carefully feeling my nose to check if it was broken. "I'm considering whether to leave your face like this. It would be educational experience."  
"It wouldn't make much difference. My face has been ruined for years now.", I hissed with pain when he touched particularly sore spot.  
"You can be such a fool.", he sighed. "I don't care what you look like. Every time I look at you, I see only your courage and strength. You carry a hundred years of power inside you, and you used it slay those who threatened my child. For those things, I would love you even if you looked like Grimm."  
Tears rushed into my eyes. I didn't know what to say. It was the most beautiful thing anyone had ever said to me, and first time my husband of three years had told me he loved me.  
"Oh, Victor.", I said, touched.  
He replied by realigning my nose. Red-hot pain turned the tears of joy into real ones.  
"Why did you do that?", I yelled. "I was just getting starry-eyed and mushy with lovely thoughts."  
"You answered your own question.", he said. "You were sufficiently distracted to stay still. And I know you prefer to raise your oxytocin levels before healing."  
" _You_ are utterly hopeless.", I sighed and braced myself for cold pain of his healing magic. "I don't know why I love you."  
"It is simple. A lesser man than Doom could not put up with you."


	5. Slokovia

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Darcy freelances for Silver Sablinova's Wild Cards and meets a nasty boy.

I stared at the plane door opening as the robot checked my parachute. It was night, and weather service department had arranged a fog spreading over Slokovia.  
"Do you have any tips for jumping from the plane?", I asked from Silver Sablinova.  
"Don't tell you haven't done this before?", she asked.  
"I'm a political scientist, remember? Not everyone was born to be mercenary.", I sniffed.  
"It is simple.", she said. "Parachutes are Doomtech. You don't have to do anything."  
"Don't scream.", Sandman said helpfully. "Nothing draws attention like screaming woman falling from the sky."  
"I'm not a screamer. But I have heard some women are.", I said smugly.  
Silver Sablinova's eyes flashed and she pushed me out from plane first.

 

Falling down was an eerie repeat of falling from Castle Doom. I couldn't scream, because I was frozen with terror. The air was freezing even through my military issue jump suit, and I didn't know how my parachute worked. It would cease be a problem quite soon, because if I hit the ground hard, I would probably explode because my pockets were filled with few special Doomtech pieces we didn't even sell yet. Silver Sablinova would die from laughter.  
I felt a snap when my liquid metal armor kicked in, mirroring my horror, and then I saw everything through a thin silver film. Falling through the cloud was not fluffy and nice like one would think. It was wet, cold, and I couldn't see anything while in it. And when I got out of it, the ground was way too close. There was a thick, black smoke rising from the west, and some kind of military camp near it.  
Then, suddenly, the parachute on my back started to move. Metal pieces moved out, clicking firmly on their places, and my flight slowed. I felt hysterical laughter bubbling in my throat, when I turned my head and saw a pair of metal wings attached to my arms. Whatever we were charging for these, it should be adjusted up.  
"Taking the controls now.", Silver Sablinova's voice announced in my comm unit. "The camp looks bad, so we're going to pass that and land on east side."  
"I want to make spins. Just a few.", Sandman said, and I saw him on my left.  
"No. This is work, not a play.", Silver's voice was unyielding. She flew first, little ways from us, and looked like she enjoyed it.  
And now, when I was no longer going to die, it was better. If I wasn't playing a commando in the middle of the war with people who wanted to kick my ass, I could have liked it. A bit.

 

Our goal was a village called Pystoroka. The rest of Wild Cards were supposed to meet us there, with information on holding place of baron Propkov. Silver announced that we would travel as far as we could that night before camping. She wanted to put more distance between us and the military camp, and I agreed with her.  
"You are holding up surprisingly well.", Silver said to me as we jogged towards west.  
"I said I have been training.", I replied.  
"If I buy that, you will claim that you actually killed Dracula yourself.", she shook her head.  
"I did."  
"What a liar.", Sandman said admiringly. "I once met a vampire who said so as well. I wonder if Doom would sell us the mind-controlling technology he used on them. It's hard to influence vamps."  
"I doubt it. He keeps the best toys for himself."  
I didn't bother replying. If Silver Sablinova was truly that thick even after I had burned her ass, it would make my job much easier. If she was just bugging me, the attempt was a failure. I had not killed Dracula to get a medal. I wasn't a mercenary; my income didn't depend on whether I had a reputation.

After two hours, we stopped briefly for a snack. Snack meant for some water and white pills. Wild Cards purchased them from Magneto, who dabbled in biochemistry when he needed money to rebuild his mutant kingdom Genosha. They were in good terms because Sablinova's father had been famous Nazi hunter, and moved on to become mercenary only after the catches became scarce.  
"These are very handy in urgent missions like this one. Take one, and you will feel refreshed and content for 24 hours. It feels like just getting up after good night's sleep. The maximum dose is three. Human body can't take more, and after three days staying awake with this, you will crash.", Sablinova explained.  
"I once did that in the middle of swim.", Sandman reminisced. "That brought me in the world of trouble."  
"I remember that one. You would have drowned without Spiderman.", Silver said. "Remember, Lewis, the time limit is absolute. There is no negotiating with it. As soon as you start feeling even slightly groggy, find a safe place and lay down. In this case, cross the border first."  
I felt Spider Phone vibrating, and looked quickly at caller ID. Loki. Pressing the red button, I rerouted the call to answering machine. He could leave a message if he was calling at 2AM and besides, I was working. I pushed the phone back into my pocket.  
Silver Sablinova distributed white pills, one for each of us, and we swallowed them down with a gulp of water. It really worked; in a minute, my whole body was tingling like I had drank a whole pot of black coffee. When I shifted to etheral sight, souls were sharper, more defined than before. Whatever Magneto put in these pills, it was good stuff.  
"Are you ready? Let's go, then.", Silver Sablinova ordered and started to jog towards west.

Spider-Phone alerted me of incoming call twice more that night. Loki was insistent. But I wasn't going to answer my phone if I was sneaking through a desolate, burned village wearing black fatigues and balaclava. If it was something truly urgent, he could leave a text message.  


Just before dawn, we reached the meeting place near Pystoroka village. It was an old house, clearly abandoned years ago. I wondered why; it still had all the items one would need for daily life. Whoever had left this place, had taken nothing with him.  
After checking the house and declaring it secure enough for time being, Silver Sablinova went out to send a signal to her men. I was looking through a clipping book which must have belonged to a young boy; it had carefully handwritten account of super heroes and what they had done in each year, complete with some newspaper clippings. He had been especially interested in F4's struggles with Victor. It could be amusing to compare these notes with Latverian history; I knew better than trusting anything in national library. Victor had a habit of rewriting things he did not like. It was a small, light thing. I stuffed the notebook into my pocket.

Then I felt it; two golden lights in the back of my consciousness turned into three. There was a third, white one, getting closer fast.  
"Someone is coming. Not human, might be Asgardian.", I said to Sandman. "Through the door."  
He didn't ask questions, just nodded, and clicked the safety off. Guns would do little against Asgardians. I took one of inclusive Doomtech grenades from my belt, the green one, and crouched in the shadows behind the armchair.  
The light came closer, and I could already hear the light steps. Not Thor, probably, but it could be one of his lackeys. Fandral, maybe.  
When the door opened, three things happened at the same moment. Sandman shot a bullet from his rifle, I threw the green grenade which exploded all over the newcomer, and Loki summoned his armor. He was covered in green, thick slime, and his shoulder was bleeding.  


"What kind of welcome is this?", he asked angrily. "And why you aren't answering your phone? I had to come all way here!"  
"I'm at work, Loki.", I said, feeling annoyed. "Didn't you listen the message at all?"  
"That is so crappy lie that it doesn't even register as one. Since when you have traipsed all over foreign countries looking like a soldier of fortune?"  
"We are not some cheap mercenaries!", Sandman was offended. "Wild Cards is a elite company."  
"This is practical diplomacy.", I said, but then Silver Sablinova was back. She took one look at Loki's face and slapped him. Her hand got stuck in the green goo.

The problem with green goo grenade was that it had two major features. First: the goo was unbelievably sticky and could imprison enemy for three hours. Two: it suppressed the magic of anyone you hit with it for good 30 hours. An effective weapon against Asgardian, but very unpractical if you happened to throw it at friend in the middle of war hotspot.  


"I knew you liked me, but this is getting awkward.", Loki said to Silver Sablinova. "Caressing my face for hours on second date is not okay by Midgardian dating rules."  
"I would be silent if I were you. My gun hand is still free.", Silver said. "Lewis, couldn't you use your flame thing and cut us out?"  
"I veto that.", Loki disagreed. "Do you have any idea how painful soul fire is? Damage to ethereal body takes ages to heal."  
"Some of us are toucher than that."  
"Or well dosed with codeine.", Sandman snickered. "I would think that getting your ass burned would teach you something."  
I was sitting by the table and staring at the chemical chart Spider Phone had offered for green goo grenade. Even if I had taken chemistry in high school - which I had not, but opted for extra self-defense class where I had discovered tasers - , it would not have been any use. The green goo was one of Velsing's inventions.  
Victor had a troubled history with scientists he employed. Because he was vain, arrogant, and wanted them to work on his inventions instead of their own, their egos tended to clash with his at some point and it always ended badly. Spider Phone informed me that Bram Velsing had harbored rebellious ambitions, and as a punishment, Victor had fused a mask permanently to Velsing's face so his features were forever hidden, just like Doom's. Velsing had fled Latveria, and left behind some of brilliant but deranged inventions he had planned to use against Doom. Like the green goo grenade. It just sucked the magic away from anyone touching it.  
"Lewis? Do you have any solution to the mess you made?", Silver Sablinova demanded.  
"Oh, yes. Waiting. It will do you good. If you had not hit Loki, you wouldn't be all gooey now."  
"You should think positively. I'm going to come with you, and I'm really nice and useful.", Loki stuck out his tongue and licked Sablinova's fingers.  
"We are not going to take you with us! And stop the tongue; I have had enough of that.", she tried to pull her hand away, but it was hopelessly stuck in goo.  
"Truly?", Loki arched his eyebrows. "Don't try lying to God of Lies. You can't very well leave me here either. I originally came to tell you that Thor was starting to take these peasants praying at him seriously, although everyone said that playing a god was no longer good idea. Thor never listens sensible warnings. I wouldn't be surprised if he was here already, with his idiotic friends. Do you truly want to face God of Thunder alone, sweetie? Or would you like to have God of Mischief at your side?"  
"Stop calling me sweetie.", Sablinova said and pointed her gun at Loki. "You are in, but only if you keep your mouth shut."  
"I doubt that.", I murmured and Sandman started to laugh.  
"Lewis, go make yourself useful and check the root cellar. Our people should arrive there soon."  
"You got sent into naughty corner!", Loki said, feigning horror.  
"I would send you there if I could.", Silver replied.  
"Generally I like role playing, but I'm not very good at being submissive.", I heard Loki saying as I opened the window and slipped into forest.

The root cellar wasn't far. It was built underground, dark and musty. I peered carefully with flashlight as I opened the door, but nobody was in. I clicked the light off and waited. Suddenly, a golden outline manifested near the shadows of the corner. A ghost, like Cynthia. This one was a young man, late teens perhaps.  
It was not a special occurrence for me. I had seen ghosts before; I could talk to them and use them to do my bidding if we agreed on it. It wasn't as useful talent as one would think, because ghosts were rare. Most people who died, didn't become ghosts. Like my dead mother-in-law used to say, "only special people allowed". They were bound to objects, places or sometimes people.  
"What are you doing here?", I asked.  
He seemed surprised, and not in happy way.  
"I didn't think you saw me. You never have done it before."  
"I'm special that way.", I replied. Probably had something to do with Magneto's miracle pills. "So, what's your name?"  
I suspected that Sablinova had sent me to root cellar to get rid of me, and I could pass the time chatting with ghost. There wasn't much more to do in dark cellar.  
"You can call me Psi-Lord.", he allowed. Something in his condescending tone reminded me of Reed Richards, and I was annoyed.  
"Truly? That is worse than Ethereal Queen."  
"I always thought Ethereal Queen rather good name.", he said. "You should be happy with it. I picked it especially for you. You could have been called 'Soul Eater', for example."  
"That would be really badass name.", I sighed. "If I was Soul Eater, I wouldn't have to play commando at war zone and call it 'practical diplomacy'. I could just appear here and scare everyone into doing what I want."  
"You are not meant for that."  
"Are you one of those people who believe in fate? Prophecies? Special tasks?"  
"Of course. I make fates and prophecies."  
This discussion was starting to get really weird.  
"If you do, you could tell me what is my fate.", I said to humor him.  
"You fate? Very well. Your so-called friends in the house will become star-crossed lovers, only to be driven apart later on. He will try his best, but realize it isn't enough, and give up on her. She will harden her heart, and fight evil with renewed rage.", he said. "And you will become pregnant with twins. This time, you will die in childbirth, and your children will be taken away in secret. Doom will put everything behind one, desperate strike against Reed Richards, and fail like he always does. A broken shell of a man, he prays for death, but it will not be granted. He will spend decades in Mephisto's hell, tortured, and when he escapes, he will face death again. This time by the hand of his own son."  
"You absolutely stole that from Star Wars.", I noted. "Don't you have any imagination? Masked man with cloak and armor, wife dies giving birth to twins, man becomes evil and his own son kills him?"  
"I give you ten months. Be grateful for them.", he said and vanished. I was happy to be alone in the dark again. What a megalomaniacal ghost.

 

 


	6. Beep

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Darcy understands why Latverian army has a checklist for packing equipment, and her relationship with her phone proves fatal.

"Your plan is seriously flawed!", I screamed to Silver Sablinova as we ran, pursued by a group of ferocious mercenaries.  
"Shut up and run!", she screamed back at me, turning to shoot our pursuers. Loki was cackling like a madman. He had stolen most of my green goo grenades, and he had a truly fine aim. I had finally figured out why Sandman was called Sandman; he could turn into particles of sand and control it. They were the real fighters, and I had been the bait. Silver Sablinova's not-so-grand plan had consisted of me simply walking into Red Skull's headquarters and arrogantly introducing myself a queen of Latveria, demanding an audience with Red Skull and baron Propkov. Two of her men were posing as Skull's mercenaries, Paladin and Ornov, and they had arranged things to get me free entry and informed Silver on the placement of guards. Once I got there, I threw a green goo grenade at Red Skull and started to run for my life, pulling Aleksandr Propkov behind me, while others had all the fun trying to stop our pursuers. I didn't like this stupid plan at all. Loki said that I was spoiled by Victor's elaborate plans: if A happens, we move to version a1 or a2, and if that fails, we have b4 ready. It was the good way of doing things. Not this mad dash with a man who hadn't run five kilometers during the last twenty years.

   
Another flaw of Silver Sablinova's plan became very apparent, as we reached the main center of Pystoroka village. Our escape flight was supposed to land there in two minutes, and I was already feeling the mad rush of optimism - I might actually get out alive! But the village square was full of people. Maybe twenty or thirty peasants, devoutly kneeling at the clumsily constructed altar.  
"We plead you, God of Thunder, to hear our prayers and release us from evil! We beg you, son of Odin, to look upon us and see our suffering! For our hearts yearn for release, and with this gift, we have given you all we have.", the village eldest shouted into heavens. Standing on the altar, he was just going to drive a knife into his heart, when sky darkened and I heard the thunder rumbling. Smiling in ecstasy, he dropped on his knees, letting the knife fall from his hand.  
"This is bad.", Loki said behind me. "As in really, truly bad."  
The lightning struck.  
"Why did we stop running?", Aleksandr Propkov asked, breathing heavily. "Where is our transport?"  
"Coming!", Silver Sablinova yelled. "Idiots, don't just stand there and look at the sky! We have angry mercenaries coming up just around the corner. Lewis, protect your fellow monarch!"  
"I think you should look for a cover.", Loki said as the wind started to whirl wildly, making an odd sort of tornado coming from the wrong direction, from heaven to earth. "That is Bifrost activating, and without my magic, I can't protect you from Thor."  
I looked anxiously around, finally seeing some beer barrels standing against a wall of a house, and as the mercenaries reached the village square, I crawled on all fours behind the barrels, pulling Aleksandr Propkov behind me.

I sat down, feeling the panic and armor coming alive with it. So I did what every girl would do in the face of certain death. I pulled out the Spider Phone and sent an angry text message to my boyfriend/husband. _  
"This is the last time you'll send me to war! Thor is coming here any minute, Silver Sablinova is really crappy planner and I accidentally slimed Loki so he's without magic. And Propkov can't run at all! If I die, I will tattle to your mother!"_

The tornado hit the earth with a bang. I recognized the sound; it was the same bang I had heard four years ago when I had been hunting anomalies with Jane Foster and we had found Thor yelling for his hammer. And I had tasered him by accident. But now he hated me, because I had killed Jane after Dracula made her his bride. Thor had sworn to see me dead, and I had tried my best to avoid him for the last year. If he saw me now, nothing would save me.

"Brother!", Loki yelled. "Come and help us to fight these oppressors!"  
"Follow me, brave warriors! We shall free these good people, who worship the might of Thor and Asgard!", I heard Thor's voice booming. Wow, he had really gotten arrogant since Jane's death. Slipping back to his old habits. I wondered if S.H.I.E.L.D. and Avengers were ok with one of their members opposing the legal government and letting cultists worship him?  
Baron Propkov tried to rise up to get a peek over the barrels, but I pushed him down.  
"Stay down!", I whispered. "Don't you know what Asgardians do to their enemies? Thor's father hang himself upside down for nine days from a tree just to get more magical knowledge - they will do something much worse to you and me if they see us."  
Propkov paled appropriately and hunched into a ball, trying to be as small and invisible as possible. I heard the battle screams of Warriors Three, and closed my eyes, wishing that I could be at home right now. I really should have taken a teleportation circle like the supply officer suggested. Why, why I had been so stupid? The official equipment list existed for reason but no, I was the queen and I wanted to take all kinds of experimental toys because I could, forgetting the portable teleportation circle which had saved me and Victor after the Dracula fight. (He had packed it.) All I had were pockets full of green goo grenades, and Loki had stolen most of them. I swore this would be the last time I had to rely on transportation provided by Silver Sablinova.

The noise and dying screams continued for a long time. I wasn't sure which side was winning, but I figured out that it was best option to wait in our hideout in any case. Then, after an half hour, the noise just stopped.  
"You fought valiantly, brother.", I heard Thor saying.  
I heard the sound of helicopter approaching. It was circling above us, looking for a place to land. I would never forgive Silver Sablinova if she took off without us. She might have, but luckily Propkov was hiding with me, and she had to take him to succeed in her mission.  
"Thank you, brother. It seems that we have driven away the mercenaries of Red Skull. Now that you have liberated the village, shall we return to Asgard?", Loki asked hopefully.  
"Yes, but I'm wondering: where is the one responsible for this vile rule? The baron Propkov, who brought this upon his people?", Thor asked.  
"This one is still alive!", I heard Sif saying. "Soldier, tell us where your master is, and I will grant you a quick death!"  
"I don't know. The queen of Latveria came to get him, and they ran away."  
I wanted to cry. Silver Sablinova and her stupid plans. Feeling the need to voice my last words, I texted furiously:  
 _Oh damn! The idiot soldier told Thor I'm here. I hate Silver Sablinova! If I die, IT IS ENTIRELY HER FAULT!_  
"Darcy von Doom! There never was born a more black-hearted woman than she! She posed as my friend, and pretended to love my lady Jane, until the day she showed her true colors and murdered the love of my life! This is clearly her work!", Thor roared. "WHERE IS SHE?"  
The silence was complete. Nobody said anything. I could _hear_ raindrops hitting the ground. I laid on my stomach behind the barrels and barely dared to breathe. Aleksandr Propkov held my hand so tightly that it hurt.  
And on that very moment, Spider Phone made a happy beeping sound. Victor had answered my text message.


	7. Practical diplomacy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Darcy is brave, foolish and kicks ass.

_You are not allowed to die. I deny it. V._

 

The Spider Phone flew from my hand, when Thor grabbed me by the neck and threw me on the ground. I split my lip and it started to bleed. Propkov landed next to me, yelping as he hit the ground.   
"Hiding like the cowards they are!", Fandral shouted.  
I stood up, pulling baron Propkov up with me.  
"You are attacking the legal government of Slokovia!", I shouted at Thor and Warriors Three. "You are breaking at least five international treaties at this very moment!"  
I saw the helicopter stopping to hover over us. If I just could bide my time, make them wait even a minute or two, I could still get through this.  
"What are you doing here, then?", Sif asked sarcastically.  
"Baron Propkov has officially asked for help from Latveria and Slokovia to bring peace to his country, and to free himself from Red Skull and his mercenaries. I am here as an official representative of my country.", I said, holding my head high, and looking as royal as one can be with a split lip and dusty black fatigues.  
"You should listen to her, brother.", Loki said swiftly. "If you strike her now, it will get you in trouble with Avengers."  
"I saved baron Propkov from Red Skull. I demand a free passage. This is not your realm, Thor. You and your warriors have no right to be here."  
"How dare you stand there, making demands of Thor! I swore I would see the death of you, and I will see it now, freeing these poor, oppressed people with your final breath!", Thor yelled. He lifted Mjölnir up and called lightning. Thunder roared to answer his call, and I heard the cracking of lightning when it hit Mjölnir. Propkov's hand in mine was cold even through my liquid armor. Loki was screaming at Thor and the helicopter's door above us opened. I saw two dark shapes jumping down, without parachutes, but then Thor roared and hit the Mjölnir on the ground. The lightning jumped from the hammer and hit me.

It was just as bad as the last time. No, it was worse. Last time I didn't have a liquid metal armor inside my spine. Victor had warned it conducted electricity and truly, it did. I screamed and shone like a Christmas tree, twitching and hurting and burning. With the second lightning strike, I barely registered Propkov's hand twitching in mine and then just dropping down. I scrambled up again, trying to focus through the terrible pain, and then I saw her, smirking in front of me. I stood my ground, waiting for the third lightning, and as soon as it was cracking all over me, I jumped on Sif.

I couldn't fight her, but I didn't need to. My armor led the electronic current straight to her metallic armor. I had natural resistance to electricity, carefully proven and measured by series of clinical trials, because I had originally been resurrected by Thor's lightning. Sif had not. I just cling to her to best of my ability, as she rolled on the ground, burning and pleading and yelling. She screamed for Thor, but it was too late. I had managed to shift and grab her soul. 

"If you attack me again, I will kill your beloved. Again.", I said to Thor and smiled with teeth. He already believed me a villain, so I might as well play the part. "I hold Sif's soul in my hand. You know what I can do with it. Now, will you respect Midgardian justice, or will you grieve again?"  
I saw Silver Sablinova standing on the side. She looked aghast.  
"All it takes is a small pull.", I said, pulling the line a bit. Sif wailed and dropped on her knees.  
"WILL YOU RESPECT THE MIDGARDIAN JUSTICE?", I shouted and let my power flash as a white flame all over me. I never could resist a good show, not when I was going to die.  
Thor absolutely fumed, and took Mjölnir up again. I leaned backwards, ready to pull and run the moment he attacked me, but then a flash of blue, white and red threw himself between us.  
"Stop it, Thor.", Steve Rogers, the Captain America and Thor's fellow Avenger, yelled. "This is not right! You cannot do this!"  
"Calm down, man!", Tony Stark demanded, targeting Thor with a repulsor ray, ready to shoot. "No matter how much you hate her, Slokovia did officially beg help from Symkaria and Latveria, and you just killed the ruler of Slokovia."  
I looked down at my feet. Aleksandr Propkov was laying down in the mud, his eyes staring at the sky. His teeth were bared in a grimace of pain, and the body smelled of ozone. He must have died when he held my hand and Thor electrocuted me. He did not have the superhuman resistance.  
"Are you, my brothers in arms, defending her? After all she has done? She confessed that she saved the dictator of this country, and she threatened my lady Sif!", Thor was raging.  
"You had no right to attack this country by the laws of Midgard!", Rogers said firmly. "You killed a lawful ruler! It is serious thing, Thor! You will be persecuted in Haag!"  
"Nick Fury sent us to monitor the situation. If you try to harm the queen again, we will have to stop you, Thor. She has the legal right to be here, while you do not. Calm down now, please.", Tony Stark begged.  
"I never imagined that Avengers would stood in the side of such injustice as this!", Thor said, the hurt evident on his face. "You protect the evildoers of this world, and try to deny the rights of poor people pleading for my help. You talk about international agreements and courts, closing your eyes from true suffering and looking at the other way. I do not wish to fight with men like you any longer. I do what my father has told me to do for a long time - he truly knows your kind better. Thor Odinson is no longer a member of your honorless Avengers!"  
He spat on the ground and bellowed for Heimdall. I let go of Sif's soul. As they stepped on the rune circle, Thor gave me a dark look which promised retribution. I looked back, my head held high.

Stark and Rogers took off only few minutes later, clearly mortified. As the helicopter took off, I looked at Aleksandr Propkov's smoking body at my feet and picked up the Spider Phone.  
"Victor? We saved Aleksandr Propkov, but Thor brutally murdered him in the front of witnesses. Iron man and Captain America arrived to stop his breach of international treaties and Thor formally resigned from Avengers. He left back to Asgard with Warriors Three, and the Avengers took off as well. Please pass my condolences to Maria Propkov."

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thor leaving Avengers is one of my comic canon steals. http://marvel.wikia.com/Slokovia


	8. Dark Cabal gossip

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Loki and Silver Sablinova discuss Dark Cabal gossip.

Loki

The small plane had two empty seats left. Silver Sablinova took one look at them and then sat by me, forfeiting the place next to queen of Latveria. The queen was humming under her breath and looked happily immersed in the game she was playing on her phone. She started to giggle uncontrollably when the fly she was guiding through a maze got grabbed by spider and the beast dragged it inside a bathroom. I didn't get it. If the game was supposed to follow the rather boring spider poem about teaching virtues for little children, shouldn't it be a parlor, not a bathroom? And who would laugh when their quest failed so miserably on level three? Tears of laughter ran all over Darcy's face, and Silver flinched.  
"You seem disturbed, my little snake.", I said to her.  
"Is she - is she always like that?", Silver asked in a low voice and nodded towards the queen. "She acts like an idiot for most of the time, and then bam! She screams about Midgardian justice in Thor's face, jumps on Goddess of War, and kicks her ass while threatening God of Thunder. Even I am not brave enough to attack a group of four gods alone, and I've been mercenary since seventeen. _And she is just a political science major_."  
The poor woman was clearly deeply disturbed.  
"I think that is why Doom sent her here.", I said, putting my arm around her shoulders. It was a proof of Silver Sablinova's mental state that she did not offer violence or even shrug it off.  
"Is she really like that all the time?", Silver asked again, staring blankly forwards.  
"It is understood in our circles", I chose my words carefully, "that Victor von Doom is a very brave man. He wears a heavy battle armor all the time, and it probably helps, but he must have taken it off at least once. They do have a child, you know. Dark Cabal is divided on that, however. Half of us believe he did it artificially, but I and Namor think he went all Doomy and braved it without the armor. His pride would not allow anything less."  
Silver shuddered, unconsciously pressing closer to me. I idly wondered if I could use Darcy to frighten ms Sablinova into a repeat performance of our liaison.  
"Change the flight plan.", she raised her voice. "We'll drop the queen to Latveria and continue to Symkaria after that."

My tour in Slokovia had not been wasted at all. Although my magic was temporarily depleted, Thor had thrown his freely around, not bothering to collect the energy of his followers. When so much magic is suddenly given away, it must go somewhere, and I had quietly collected the crude idol from Thor's altar after my brother had left. It should hold enough power for the greatest show premiere ever. Dinner with Loki was going to have a flying start.


	9. The happiest family

The image is from stunningly beautiful Doom comic called Masks (Marvel Double Shot #2). The Latverian ministry of Fine Art, concert, and even the chariot with flying horses are stolen from that.

Sue

Calling to Darcy von Doom could be truly annoying. Although she did have a phone nowadays, Victor must have put some kind of screening on it, because Johnny's calls always ended up in call center from hell, and mine got through only 30% of time. Latveria had four official languages, and the call center staff cycled them to be sure nobody could actually talk with them. If we tried German, they spoke only Hungarian, and when we switched to Hungarian, the call got transferred to someone who pretended not to understand a word of Hungarian, only Rom or Latverian. Of course, every time the language changed, we had to wait for ages and listen at classical music Doom had composed.  
Lately I had found the magic word. As soon as I heard someone picking up, I said quickly:  
"This is Sue Richards, and I have a personal call for Her Majesty. P-E-R-S-O-N-A-L."  
"Her Majesty is very busy right now.", the annoyed voice informed me in Latverian. "I shall ask if she has time. I remind you that this service line is purely for personal calls; any reference to official business will transfer your call back to service center."  
I sat down, preparing for a long wait, but this time it was only four minutes.  
"You may activate the holo screen. Her Majesty the queen shall grant you an audience.", someone said in German. I was grateful for automatic translation function on my Stark Phone, and slightly annoyed. It was hard to cultivate a budding friendship with someone who granted you an audience when you just wanted to chat.

 

Darcy von Doom appeared on the holo screen. She was sitting on a stool, surrounded by three maids. One of them was curling her black hair, while the other was just finishing her makeup. The third was holding two cases in front of her, trying to match the jewels to her dress.  
"Sue!", she greeted me in English, and nodded towards the left case. The maid took out emerald necklace and fastened it around her neck. "How may I help you?"  
"Did I call at bad time?", I asked.  
"No, not at all. This is simply a Thursday. Don't mind the maids; they are all Doombots.", she said dryly. "Most of my personal servants are, and I pretend not to notice. I think I have one or two humans, if I count vampire hunters. The rest are Doombots."  
"Doesn't it feel uncomfortable? Lonely?", I wrinkled my forehead.  
"It's no use to argue about it. When I first arrived here, I tried to make friends, but after a while, I noticed that if I liked someone, soon there was a Doombot just like her. A queen can't befriend her subjects. It would cause discord.", she shrugged. "But I am sure you didn't call me to discuss robots."  
"It's about Refrigerator Club.", I said. "I think we are ready to kick it off, but we need resources. I've asked around, and I think our best shot is a fund raising event. Mary Jane Watson said we can hold it in the theatre she used to work in, for free."  
"I have most of my wages saved, if we need money to host and advertise the event.", Darcy offered. "I don't use them for much, and I can give 12 000 for this."  
"From the time you worked for Jane Foster?", I said, astonished.  
"No. It was a long-standing disagreement between Victor and I. He believes his money is mine, but I don't want it. I've read too much de Beauvoir to be happy using a credit card declaring me mrs Victor von Doom for every little thing I might want. So we finally settled on a compromise. The government pays me a salary based on my degree and years of service, a standard rate for civil servant. I use it for my personal expenses and hobbies. Refrigerator Club classifies as a hobby, and this way, we can keep this as a purely personal endeavor. As much as that is possible."  
"It is rather good idea, for obvious reasons.", I admitted. "We could use an arrangement like that to keep Reed's science budget in line. It would be nice if I could pay hairdresser and not to find out that someone has already ordered a truckload of unstable chemicals with the money."  
"Separate accounts are way to go.", Darcy agreed. Her maid had finished curling her hair into ringlets. The effect was regal, and probably deliberate. All fantasy queens and ladies of ancient Rome dramas had hair like that. I suddenly felt inferior for my costume. It was practical, but not pretty, and I had my hair on ponytail. I never had time to do my hair like that. The woman on the screen was just pulling opera gloves on her hands, and one of the maids was fixing a tiara on her hair with pins. She looked beautiful. I felt a flash of envy, and promptly reminded myself that all those lovely trinkets came in the same package with Doctor Doom.

"If you haven't yet decided the date, I suggest 24th or 25th. I'm travelling to New York for work,and it would be nice not to make two trips. I have to be in Latveria on Thursday at latest."  
"24th is fine. I have a list of friends willing to throw a show for a good cause. I will send you the sample program and make reservations.", I said. We had settled everything, but I was curious, and decided to give in. She might even answer. "But what is it with Thursdays and all that trouble? Jewels and everything?"  
Darcy looked at something I couldn't see, and then Victor appeared on the screen, standing behind her. He was dressed in black uniform, complete with medals. I thought he did not have other clothes than the same old green thing, but apparently I was wrong.  
"Latverian ministry of Fine Arts is devoted to providing a suitable cultural education to all Latverians on every Thursday evening.Today it is Russian orchestra at Kingdom Hall.", she replied coolly. "Usually at least five percent of visiting performers are disguised spies, which sadly lowers the quality of play."  
"Good evening, Susan.", Victor nodded at me, laying his hands on her bare shoulders. "Doom hopes that you have finished your business with my queen, because our chariot is waiting."  
"Chariot?", I repeated, feeling dumb.  
"Watching the play is as much an act as performing. So we have a chariot with four flying horses. I think it's a perfect finishing touch.", she said, lifting her fingers to touch the armored hand on her shoulder.  
"You have a flair for dramatic.", Victor said to her.  
"So do you.", she smiled at him, golden eyes full of warmth.  
Since they were obviously feeling mellow, I asked:  
"Is it true that you annexed Slokovia?"  
"Tsk, tsk.", Victor said, looking straight at me. "You should not abuse the private line."  
The holo screen disappeared, and my phone suddenly surged with electricity. I yelped and dropped it on the floor, barely shielding myself in time before the phone exploded.

 

I walked to the laboratory, feeling very cranky.  
"Reed.", I said, shutting the computer monitor to get his attention. "I want a new phone. And you really should take me out for a date. I just heard that Victor von Doom hosts a ballet, concert or theatre performance every Thursday and he takes his wife there in a flying horse chariot, for God's sake!", I crossed my arms over my chest. "Why can't you ever do something like that? He was wearing actual clothes, an uniform!"  
"I'm not sure what you want? A new phone, date, clothes or a flying horse chariot?", Reed asked, confused. "What should I get first? Do you want all of them, or just some? You make no sense at all. Why do you want a flying horse chariot? Fantasticar flies, and it is much more practical than horses. Flying horses are hard to get, and building them is time-consuming. It takes ages to make the joints move right. I really think the car should be enough, with all budget talk you give me. And I took you out last year. We spent a weekend without kids on Negative Zone."  
"Yes, a romantic getaway on _Negative Zone_!", I repeated.  
"We can do that again if you want?", Reed suggested. He truly had no idea.  
"You are hopeless. If I had phone, I would call Namor.", I said, turning around.  
"Hey! Sue! What did I say wrong?", he shouted after me.

"What's the racket?", Johnny asked. He was standing in front of mirror and styling his hair. The stereos were blaring awful europop from 90's, the chorus singing about wanting super hero lover.  
"Just an argument with Reed.", I sighed. "I called Darcy about the Refrigerator Club event. It's stupid, but I got envious. Apparently Victor takes her out every Thursday and makes an actual effort, complete with chariot pulled by flying horses. They were both rather royal. Reed didn't even understand why I'm cranky. He thinks that a weekend in Negative Zone is a date."  
"Don't bother, mom.", Franklin said, looking up from his book. "Villains can never be happy like us; their perfect families rarely last for long. Probably not even until the end of the year. Just wait and see. "  
"You are such a nice boy, Franklin.", I smiled gratefully at him.  
"I will do everything in my power to keep us all happy and together.", he replied, looking so sincere that my heart was filled with warmth. Yes, I might not have jewels, dates or very attentive husband, but I had the loveliest children in the whole world.


	10. Call me Loki

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Loki wins the date vehicle contest by conjuring up a ghost ship. Darcy and Victor figure out Loki's secret plan. Darcy gets badly frightened by Disney duet nightmare, and Victor congratulates himself for surpassing Reed Richards in certain area of male expertise.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is a musical chapter, so:  
> To maximum appreciation of Loki's frilly shirt, I recommend "He's a pirate"  
> "Dinner with Loki" has different theme song on each episode, and this one is "Call me Loki" from Youtube. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-CFpQc5nJqo  
> And Darcy's nightmare song http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KiuBw_kj1-U

Loki

I adjusted my pirate hat and turned towards my first mate:  
"Do I look good? Is this shirt too frilly?"  
"No!", the queen of Latveria said, clapping her hands. "You look dashing, Loki."  
"I trust your word on that. She said I could pick her up at eight."  
"I feel almost jealous.", the queen said. "Flying chariot is lovely, but a flying pirate ship? Wanda Maximoff is one lucky woman. One word of warning before you go. Don't tell her that this ship is made of dead men's nails. It sounds cross."  
"I don't understand why. Waste not, want not, and a wooden ship is entirely too common. They don't even fly, and you have to actually pay the crew."  
We dived down between the clouds and the Nalgfar stopped to hover above the Stark Tower.  
"Cameramen ready!", the director of "Dinner with Loki" shouted. I flashed a grin at the main camera and then untied one of the ropes hanging from the mast. For a good measure, I threw a bolt of green magic on Tony Stark's antenna sticking out from the top of Avenger's Tower. A grand entrance is worth nothing if nobody sees.  
Just like I had hoped, the sirens started to scream, and when the first Avengers reached the roof terrace, I took the rope and flung myself down. Damn, I looked good in the velvet long coat, pirate hat and long, shiny leather boots. The costume department really knew their job.  
Avengers just stared at me like dumb animals. Holding on my rope with one hand, I took my hat off and bowed with flourish.  
"I'm sorry, but my ship really accommodates only one of you."  
"What the hell are you doing, Loki?", Captain asked.  
"A national icon like you, swearing on live broadcast.", I wagged a finger at him. "You really shouldn't."  
I took out my pocket watch.  
"I'm a little bit early. Two minutes. But it wouldn't do to keep a lady waiting."

I didn't have to wait for long. The terrace door opened again, and Wanda Maximoff was standing there. She looked sweet in her foolish red cape, her cheeks blushed for the running. Unfortunately, my stupid brother stood behind her. To be honest, I might have known that this was the day Thor had chosen to come collecting his personal belongings from his former companions. Being magnificent is not fun if nobody is there to appreciate it.  
"Good evening, Wanda. I'm here to pick you up, as promised.", I bowed to her, striding to her and putting my arm around her waist.  
Thor looked like he was ready to burst. He stared at the ship, deathly pale for either rage or fear.  
"Loki, that is Nalgfar!" he bellowed. "It's a dark omen of Ragnarok, not a vehicle to pick up women for your show!"  
"I needed something unforgettable to impress a rare woman like you.", I said to Wanda, smiling. Darcy had been right. The pirate thing _was_ working, I could see the admiring amusement in her green eyes.  
I tugged the rope, held Wanda against my chest and we started to rise slowly through the air.  
Tony Stark was clapping his hands with mad joy, but Thor was furious.  
"How are you steering it?", he yelled. "If you summoned Hel from her realm, I swear, it will be the end of you!"  
"I had no need for bothering Hel, brother.", I shouted down to him. "Unlike you, I have a friend who is very good with ghosts of dead men."  
At that very moment, the queen of Latveria appeared near the side of Nalgfar and blew kisses to people down on the roof. She was dressed in similar pirate outfit as mine, and although we were already ten meters in the air, I could see Thor's eyes whitening. I decided that it would be prudent to get on the deck quicker, and gave a little encouragement to rope.

I heard the tune of my show starting, and smiling sweetly at the ants on the roof, I sang along:

_"Hey, I just met you,_   
_And this is crazy,_   
_But I will kill you,_   
_If you don't praise me._   
_And I will destroy,_   
_Midgard maybe._   
_So, get on your knees,_   
_And call me Loki. "_

Stark was laughing so hard he almost cried. Thor, the oaf, didn't have a sense of humor. He started to spin Mjölnir around and as the dead sailors helped us over the side on the deck of my ship, thunder started to roll on the sky.  
"You have everything under control, my dear?", I asked from Darcy.  
"Of course. And I'm immune to electricity, anyway.", she replied, and the dead men started to prepare ship for takeoff. The sails of Nalgfar caught wind and Darcy took her place at ship's wheel. I thought it suitable; when the captain is otherwise occupied, first mate will navigate the ship.  
"I hope you aren't afraid of little thunder and lightning.", I said to my guest. "Sadly, my brother has no sense of style. My crew will get us out from this soon enough."  
"And if they don't"?, Wanda asked.  
"Most of the people on this ship are already dead. It's not going to make any difference.", I shrugged and placed my hand on the small of her back. Our dinner, complete with the camera crew was waiting.

"So, how does it feel like to be a daughter of famous terrorist?", I asked as soon as we were both sitting by the dinner table in my cabin. "Of course, any terrorism you might have here in Midgard is pitiful compared to might of Asgard. All-Father is worst terrorist I know of. We have so many things in common: my father turned my children into monsters, and your's didn't even bother to tell you that if you want babies, you should not marry an android. How do you feel about that?"  
From the look of her face, I knew this was going to be a great dinner.

 

Darcy

I was soaking wet when I appeared on the summoning circle in Castle Doom, Latveria. Thor's little outburst had faithfully followed us all way to Atlantic Ocean, and I wasn't very good at navigating a ship. Never done it before. But I didn't hit any buildings, none of the Loki's filming crew had been hurt, and they had got the episode done in record time.  
I waited the security system to recognize my soul signature and when the force field lowered, I went to search for Victor. He was working in the other part of the laboratory floor.  
"I got your readings.", I said and put the small device in the front of him on the table.  
He took the small chip and inserted it into decoding terminal.  
"Decode the information and cross reference with the number of viewers of "Dinner with Loki.", Victor gave the voice command.  
In two seconds, we were looking at chart.  
"You were right.", I said. "His magical energy signature is growing in line with the number of viewers. But the energy line is still on higher level than the show viewers."  
"It's not his only source of power.", Victor remarked. "Show dates correspond with power spikes, but the blue line, there, is the static rate of power and it's growing as well."  
"Computer: comb through Youtube for thumbs up in any videos tagged with Loki. Also, Tumblr and fanfiction archives.", I commanded.  
It took few minutes, which meant the number of material was enormous. We had the nicest tech on the planet, equal only to Stark's, with the difference that ours didn't make snarky comments.  
"Add it to chart and mark with green.", I said.  
The green line and blue line matched perfectly.  
"That is rather devious.", I said with reluctant admiration. "Although it's only matter of time when others figure it out."  
"It might take long time for them.", Victor replied. "World is too taken by Loki's show to think why the so-called gods wanted to be worshipped in Earth in the past. Praise, belief and servitude are all forms of magical energy, easy to siphon when they are served freely with name tag attached, and only thing which made them stop was the demand of Celestials. But Celestials ordered it mainly because they felt the genetic progress of the human race should not be interfered with, and Loki was just a child then. He might not remember, or care, and so far, his exploits have nothing to do with genetics."  
"So he has a free reign, then. I wonder when Shield or Avengers are going to catch up."  
"Neither of them has any magic users to speak of, with the exception of Wanda Maximoff, and she has a reputation of mental instability. Dr Strange is his greatest threat, and Loki must have planned something to thwart him.", Victor speculated.  
"Do you need more data?", I asked.  
"It would be wise to stay up to date with his progress, but it is not necessary for you to go on your way to collect more readings. His power is no threat to us, and I will make sure he will be caught in convenient time. So-called heroes will be focused on him, and leave us alone."  
"It sounds lovely. But I'm really tired.", I said. Being a ghost sailor was a tough job. "I'm going to sleep."  
  
\--

"She wants to see the prisoner.", a young man said to two demons who were standing on guard. The man's voice was somehow familiar, but I couldn't place it. The smells of smoke and brimstone were heavy in the air.  
"Be quick.", the horned one said and stepped aside to let me through the dark doorway.  
I saw Victor, kneeling on the ground. His hands were tied behind his back and chained to a pole. His face was still masked, but his neck was stained with dried blood, and he did not have his armor. He had obviously been tortured.  
"Darcy.", he looked up. I tried to touch him, but my hands just went through his olive skin, making him flinch. Then I understood why. I was dead. My hands were only golden outlines in the air, just like Cynthia's had been.  
"I'm so sorry.", I whispered.  
"For what? This? I've gotten out of worst scrapes than this. Can't think of any right now, but..."  
"It would have been better if we'd never met. None of this would have happened."  
"Darcy. Look at me. I would rather die tomorrow than live a hundred years without knowing you.", Victor said and started to sing.  
  
 _"If I never knew you_  
 _If I never felt this love_  
 _I would have no inkling of_  
 _How precious life can be_  
 _If I never held you_  
 _I would never have a clue_  
 _How at last I'd find in you_  
 _The missing part of me_

Little Doombots rolled out from the darkness and gathered around us. They had big, sad-looking eyes and they swayed from side to side in time with music.

_In this world so full of fear_   
_Full of rage and lies_   
_I can see the truth so clear_   
_In your eyes_   
_So dry your eyes_   
_And I'm so grateful to you_   
_I'd have lived my whole life through_   
_Lost forever_   
_If I never knew you"_

The music stopped, obviously waiting for something. For a reason I truly could not understand, I opened my mouth and the song flowed out:

_"I thought our love would be so beautiful_   
_Somehow we'd make the whole world bright_   
_I never knew that fear and hate could be so strong_   
_All they'd leave us were these whispers in the night_   
_But still my heart is saying we were right_   
_For If I never knew you "_

When he started to sing with me, and the little Doombots gave us sad glances, really twisted stuff started to happen. Things like setting eagles on a flight from our open hands, kissing in a sunflower field and all kinds of freaky things I was one hundred percent sure never ever had happened. It was horrifying. Like someone with no experience or imagination was trying to put together a sad breakup scene, but didn't really know the characters, and it went all wrong, becoming frightening instead of touching. The man was not Victor. This one sounded American, my Victor would absolutely refuse to sing anything so banal and my mind felt all woolly, like I _had to_ remember something but could not put my mind to it.  I panicked and started to scream.

 --

"Wake up!", someone was telling me and holding me down. I blinked my eyes open and tried to make sense of things around me, but it was dark and I saw everything through a thin silver film.  
"Calm down, Darcy! Stop fighting me!"  
It was Victor's commanding voice, the king's voice, and I knew it had to be obeyed. I tried hard to control my panic, and concentrated on deep, slow breaths. Slowly the silver metal started to retract, and I could see the darkness of my own bedroom. Victor was on top of me, holding my wrists down. His hair was rumpled and he was still wearing the linen pajamas. No blood on his face.  
"I woke up to you screaming. You were in panic, and your armor was on.", he said, letting go of my hands.  
Suddenly, a bout of nausea took over me, and I swallowed to keep it down. He was too heavy.  
"I'm feeling sick.", I said, pushing him off, and started to run towards bathroom, holding a hand over my mouth.

At seven o'clock, I was laying on my bed, pale as a sheet. I felt awful.  
"I don't understand how I'm going to fly to USA today.", I wailed. "I'm tired and I feel like I'm going to throw up any moment, but nothing comes up. This is horrible. I'm never going to dine with Loki again."  
"Doom pities you.", Victor said, sitting down on my bed. He had already put on the armor, but the mask was still on bedside table. "It is clear that you can't go anywhere before you feel better. I will send a Doombot instead of you."  
"I didn't know you had a Doombot copy of me.", I said. I should have been angry, probably, but I truly did not want to get up. My bed was nice. The covers were warm and Victor had opened the windows to let clean, cold spring air in. If I didn't move, I almost felt normal, and there was no way I would drag myself to wrong side of Atlantic Ocean if I could help it. Refrigerator Club fundraising event or not.  
"Of course I do.", he said lightly. "They are almost like the original, but with some sense of self-preservation. Programming them to act exactly like you would be too expensive in repair costs."  
"The test results are here, master.", the medbot offered a print to Victor, who took it.  
"My nightmare. It was absolutely horrible. You were a prisoner in hell, chained to a pole, and I was dead. Then you suddenly started to sing like John Smith in Pocahontas. There were little dancing Doombots. The whole thing freaked me out. Promise me, Victor, if you are ever imprisoned in hell, you do not start singing about how grateful you were to meet me.", I said, reaching for his hand. For some reason, thinking about the freaky dream made me feel cold and afraid. "If something like that happened, you try to get out. Get out, and don't spend your time and energy singing laments."  
He looked at me, eyes bright with amusement.  
"You are an odd woman, my dear. You can face vampires or alien gods without fear, but panic and wake up screaming because you dream of Disney duets. But if it calms you, of course Doom will promise that. It is a sensible action. I will never sing with you in hell."  
"Thank you.", I said, feeling a bit better. He always kept his word. "So, what did Loki poison me with?"  
"He didn't poison you.", Victor said, a look of absolute smugness on his face. "All the poison markers are negative, like they should. The problem is a positive one. Human chorionic gonadotropin is over 300,000, suggesting multiple pregnancy. It's pleasing that Doom can do better than Reed Richards and other, lesser men in their similar pursuits."  
"Doom can do better?!", I repeated, not believing my own ears. I felt awful and he was congratulating himself for beating Reed Richards in a competition they didn't even have, as far as anyone knew. Or if they did, I didn't want to know. I tried to sit up and think of some scathing remark, but as soon as I moved, the awful nausea came back.  
"I will send a Doombot to bring you something to eat.", Victor said and kissed me on the cheek. "You should feel better in a month or two."  
He put the mask on and stood up to leave. I threw a pillow at him, but missed, hitting the wall instead, and I heard him chuckling as he closed the door.


	11. Reed Richards, the master of innuendo

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Trouble in fantastic family. Reed POV.

Reed Richards

Doctor's appointments had never been my forte: but Sue had been offered a modeling contract for Nike's new sport bra line, and the payment would get us back on the track. So I ended up sitting at Dr Hazelton's office to provide some details he wanted on Franklin. Finding a doctor who was qualified to make yearly checkups for a Omega level mutant son was not easy task. Franklin had power to warp reality; he could create, change or destroy things by just thinking of it. He had telepathy, precognitive dreams, ability to send ghost images of himself to other places while he slept and ability to travel through time without assorted machinery. Most doctors refused to take him as soon as I got halfway through the list, but dr Hazelton had great recommendations from Professor Xavier. Franklin had not complained of him so far, but he rarely told us anything these days. Teenagers.  
"I called you here to clarify some things on Franklin's background. Mr Richards, can you tell me if Franklin was subjected to prenatal stress?"  
"Well, yes.", I replied. "Sue and I were both exposed to radiation which gave us our powers, and it resulted in severe difficulties in all her pregnancies. She had a very interesting cellular anomaly which threatened her and Franklin both. I wonder if you have heard of X-y56? It was the anomaly I found, and--"  
"Mr Richards, a simple yes or no will suffice here.", Dr Hazelton lifted his palm up to stop me.  
"I'm sorry.", I said, embarrassed. "I tend to forget that not everyone is as interested in science as I. The answer is yes. Definitely yes, since I had to obtain Cosmic Control Rod to bring the energy in Sue's blood under control."  
"Did he experience childhood trauma, separation from his family or abuse?"  
"Yes!", I said, feeling mortified. "I had to shoot him with a weapon which rendered him comatose because his powers woke up too early and he couldn't control them. My father abducted him into future, he was captured by Onslaught twice, Doctor Doom kidnapped him, betrayed him and left him alone in Hell where he was tortured, Celestials tried to force him to choose which world would die, Sue miscarried and Franklin took it very badly - the baby came back later but it was still rough - and last year the children found themselves under siege by Norman Osborn, Venom and Hammer agents. I was unavailable to help them."  
"Did you ever seek professional help for him to recover from all these traumas?"  
"No. My wife and Ben, a member of our team, talked with him and it seemed to help..."  
God, it sounded so bad said out loud. Dr Hazelton's lips were thin line, and he wrote something on his notepad.  
"Social isolation?"  
"Well, yes. He doesn't have friends."  
"Does he use drugs or alcohol?"  
"Not that I know of."  
Dr Hazelton put his notepad down and looked at me seriously.  
"Mr Richards, I honor the confidentiality with my patients. But Franklin is still a minor, and in my ethics, getting him the care he needs is priority. I am not able to tell you the details, but as his doctor, I have to inform you that I'm very worried of your son's mental health. Did you know that he sees things?"  
I was so relieved that I started to laugh.  
"Of course he sees things. He has been having premonitions since he was a small boy."  
"I am not talking about premonitions, mr Richards. When I agreed to be your son's doctor, you gave me extensive information on his mutant abilities. As a man of science, you should be able to answer this: how do you tell the difference between premonition and hallucination?"  
I felt like I couldn't breathe. I had always been good with calculations, and this one was very simple to make. My body started to lose form, and my legs puddled over the leather chair.  
"I take that you arrived to same conclusion as I did. There is no way to tell difference except wait and see.", dr Hazelton's grey eyes were sympathetic. "Franklin has told me of things he sees and voices he hears and I am afraid they can't be premonitions. They sound very megalomaniacal."  
"What are they? You have to tell me. I might know if they are premonitions.", I said fervently.  
"His thoughts are fixated on your family. He is willing to go great lengths to keep you together. I can't tell you exactly, because this is confidential, but he has already done some very questionable things to achieve his goal of family unity, and I suspect there is more to it. I have a feeling he is not telling me everything."  
"Such as?", I asked, feeling defensive. "You can't expect me to act on hearsay."  
"No, mr Richards. I will give you this one example, because the situation is truly alarming.", dr Hazelton said. He took his reading glasses off and continued gently: "Franklin told me that few years ago, his uncle was very vocally interested in a woman. Although Franklin does not like Johnny Storm very much, he still feels very possessive of him, and did not wish that Johnny would pursue the relationship further. Franklin's psychological maturity does not correspond to his age, and like a small child, he was jealous. He told me that he was afraid that Johnny would move out, maybe abroad, and leave your family. Your son did not use his powers, but he lied to you. He told Johnny Storm that he had a premonition of this woman, and the woman was going to kill Franklin."  
"Oh, damn.", I wailed and hid my face in my hands.  
"You recognize the event?"  
"Yes! Johnny poisoned her to save Franklin."  
"How desperate and frightened a man must be to kill a woman whom he is interested in?", dr Hazelton asked. "And there is another, rather disturbing angle to consider: was Johnny's decision to kill to protect entirely his, or was he given a push in that direction? Franklin could make him do it, if he wanted. He has the capability to shape the reality. "  
"This is too much to take in.", I said, shaking my head. "What should I do?"  
"I suggest that you contact Dr Samson. He is a well-known psychiatrist, who has treated several super hero clients on his clinic. You must speak with your wife and get Franklin the treatment he needs, as soon as possible. If it is schizophrenia, it can be treated. The key is to avoid psychotic episodes and provide him a calm, controlled environment.", dr Hazelton pushed a card over table.

 

"I can't believe this.", Sue's eyes were red-rimmed and she blew her nose. "My little baby."  
"I called to Dr Samson, and he had an open appointment for tomorrow morning. He is the best there is, and surely he will be able to help Franklin.", I said, pacing the floor. "I'm going to contact professor Xavier, and maybe Illuminati can help us. Doctor Strange might be able to provide a binding, and--"  
"No!", Sue snapped. "You will not do it. Franklin will get medical care, but we can't let anyone else to know about this. Do you remember when Wanda Maximoff, aka Scarlet Witch, had a mental breakdown, and Xavier with his X-men were going to kill her to save the world? She had to twist the whole world into House of M-reality to save herself! I will not have that happen to Franklin! He is much more powerful than Scarlet Witch, and after she wiped out all the mutants, nobody will hesitate even one moment. They will kill our baby if they find out!"  
"Surely they will see reason!"  
"No, they won't! You already shot Franklin comatose when he was just a toddler with his uncontrollable powers, and you are his father! As soon as they hear what he made Johnny do, they will not hesitate, and I will not see my baby die.", Sue said, pressing her hands into fists. "Telling anyone about this is too risky! Franklin is innocent! It is not his fault that he is ill, and I will not, I will not let anyone to take him away from us! You are the smartest man in the planet and we all have powers; surely we can help him with Dr Samson."  
"It is true that they might be provoked into... All right, Sue, but if Dr Samson does not get Franklin's illness under control, we will discuss this again, and then I will call for help.", I gave up. I knew I should not, but he was my son, and removing him from his family might have very dangerous consequences.  
"I'm so relieved you see sense, Reed.", Sue said, hugging me. "Our family is so important to him. Just the other day, when I was mad at you about the date disagreement, Franklin said the sweetest thing ever. He told me that he would do anything to keep our family happy and together, and no villains can ever--"  
"What is it?", I asked from Sue, who looked horrified.  
"I was complaining about Victor and Darcy's flying chariot, and Franklin said that villains can never be happy like us, and their perfect families rarely last for long. Probably not until the end of the year. I will get Franklin and we will talk about this with him."  
"Talk about this with him? His obsession about Victor's wife? He already made Johnny kill her once, and it was merely some months ago when he confessed spying on her and I had to make a blocking device to counter it. I don't think talking will cut it.", I disagreed.  
"We will talk with him, and he will understand. You promised me nobody will know. I will get Franklin, and we will have this sorted out in no time.", Sue said. It was clear that she wanted to believe her own words, had decided to believe them, but I could not.

I hated Victor, and he hated me. He was a thorn in my side, and had done so many things to ruin my life and happiness that I had lost count years ago. But during last two years, we had fought less often, and although he still went through the motions, it was evident that he had other things in his mind than the demise of Fantastic Four. Like the launch of Latverian weather services, which was a stroke of genius, although I hated to admit it. Now Latveria provided optimal weather for several European countries and last time I heard, Russia was going to buy it. He seemed content with his life, kingdom and intellectual pursuits, and it gave me much needed room to breathe. But I knew him better than anyone else, better than I knew Sue or my children. If he was provoked, if Franklin did something to provoke him, it would be worse than with the vampires. Their population had suffered major losses in the countries which used Latverian weather services. The weather platform detected vampires somehow, and created beam of sunlight aimed straight at the undead, no matter the time or current weather. Since nobody liked vampires, this burning feature was well received with his clients who paid extra to have it included, but for me, it was the proof that Victor had not changed. He was merely having a silent war against another group, Dracula's children.

I could not tell him. He would not hesitate to kill Franklin. But I could not let him just walk into trap, unknowing, because Victor always blamed somebody else for his shortcomings. He always sought revenge. It could be as catastrophic as anything Franklin could do. Logical deduction left me with only one option: I had to warn him. Surely I could warn them in such a way which would not give anything away. I was, after all, the smartest man on the planet. And I had to be quick, before Sue came back with Franklin. I decided to call Darcy von Doom. She didn't know me very well, and might not notice anything was wrong.

 

Getting through Latverian call center was pain in the ass. I had been transferred six times from one customer service person from another, and it annoyed me to know they all were probably one and same robot. The clock on the wall was ticking. It had been seven minutes already, and my time was running out. I had to get through before Sue came back.  
"This is Reed Richards speaking, and I want to speak with your queen, now!", I lost my temper. "Otherwise she is going to die before the end of the year, you idiots!"  
"Transferring your call, now.", a voice in the line informed me in German.

"Richards.", I heard Victor's voice on the line. "My people inform me that you broke the security protocols."  
"I hate your call center. I was trying to speak with your wife."  
"She is indisposed.", he replied, his voice radiating absolute smugness for some reason I could not fathom. It irked me considerably. It was clear that he thought he had beaten me at something, but I couldn't think of what it might be. It was infuriating to feel inferior for something I didn't know about.  
"Is it something serious?", I asked. Maybe Franklin had done something, and I was already late.  
"No.", he replied, his mood changing. "But evidently you made, just a minute ago, a death threat."  
"I didn't!", I defended myself. "It is more like a friendly warning. It has come into my attention that something bad might happen, and it is my duty as a decent human being to inform you about it."  
"Details, Richards."  
"I can't give you any.", I said quickly. "Except before the end of the year, you might not be happy anymore. And I don't know who said it, or why, or anything, so don't call me for more details, because--"  
I heard them coming. I cut the call immediately and turned towards the door as it opened.

  
"There you are, father.", Franklin said, coming in with Sue. "I already talked with mother. I'm going to see Dr Samson as you suggested, but you will not talk about it with anyone. You feel only a sense of calm and happiness. There is no need to think about the issue, because it is already taken care of, and I'm having the very best medical care. You remember this, but you do not worry or fret. You are convinced everything is just fine in our family."  
He lifted up his hand, and I tried to stretch away, thinking he would shoot me.  
"Foolish father. I don't have to.", he said, answering my thoughts. "I simply wish, and my wishes become reality."  
I felt a horrible pain inside my head, like some of my brain cells were moving in a different formation, and everything was so fuzzy. I felt like I _had_ to remember something, but I could not point out what it was. Shaking my head, the odd feeling took a moment to pass.  
"I was just saying, father, how well you did to call doctor Samson and get me appointment so quickly.", Franklin said.  
"Yes, thank you.", I smiled happily. "I'm so proud that you are taking this so well. It is only a minor problem, and soon you will feel so much better."


	12. You just got Loki'd

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Loki gets Loki'd. Loki POV.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The music for this episode of "Dinner with Loki" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GaeH10Q6Oiw

Loki

I stared at smoking Doombot, and heard Lilith's delighted laugh. The theme song "You just got Loki'd" for this episode of my show, started to play, and I felt it was too well suited. I would kill the moron who put it on.  
"This is excellent end of the season one, especially the explosion at the end. Loki has been Loki'd, by doctor Doom of all people.", Lilith, the daughter of Dracula, proclaimed.  
"It's not fun!", I snapped at her, feeling angrier than in long time. It felt almost like being in Asgard again. "I'm the God of Mischief! Nobody tricks me!"  
I felt for the pathway I used to travel to Latveria, but it was closed to me, somehow. I could see only a glowing force field. Snarling, I switched locations, and opened a pathway to the street near Latverian embassy. I stepped through, leaving the giggling vampire with the smoking remains of Doombot and my flabbergasted studio crew.

 

Doctor Doom was waiting me on the embassy yard. He stood proudly, arms crossed over his chest, and that stupid cloak flapped in the wind.  
"Let him pass.", he said to gate guards. The one opening the gate at me looked nervous; I smiled at him and reached for him with my magic, deciding to slam the idiot against the iron gates. I wanted to hurt someone. But then a small ball was thrown at my feet, and poisonous mist rose from it, making me choke. I heard only the frantic running of the guards and when the smoke cleared, they were gone.  
"You are a sore loser, Loki.", Doctor Doom said calmly. "Are you ready to have the discussion you came here for, or do you want to continue your temper tantrum? Doom has had plenty of experience in waiting a screaming child to calm down."  
His reference to Sophie softened my anger a bit. The bastard did it on purpose.  
"I want to know why you ruined my show!", I shouted. "It was season final, you unimaginative idiot! You made me look like fool!"  
"And what was the original premise of your show? Invite my wife there and not to tell her that she would be face to face with Dracula's daughter?", Doom's voice was cold. "My wife is not your plaything, Loki. I do not allow it."  
It was always a bad sign when Doom switched from third person to first person. Most people thought it opposite, but I personally have always thought that Victor is much more dangerous than Doom. Not that I would know him, but I've seen glimpses. One can negotiate with Doom, or trust him to betray you on worst possible moment. Doom is a good ally as long as it's profitable to him, he's flexible and not going to skin you without a sufficient reason. He doesn't do emotional and desperate things which remind me of my brother.  
"Darcy is a great sport. She would have dealt with it.", I shrugged. "And Lilith is very happy that Dracula has stayed dead for eighteen months now. Her relationship with her father was absolutely fucked up from the beginning, and I think she actually is a fan of your wife. As much as a vampire can be."  
Doom didn't move. It was clear that he didn't agree.  
"If you dont' stop staring at me, I will tell Darcy that you are reading her mail."  
"All information going in and out of Latveria is monitored. It guarantees the safety and happiness of Latverian subjects.", Doom informed me. "Your case is a prime example of my reasoning. If Doom must explain things to you, come inside. He doesn't wish to stand outside for hours."  
"You are not talking to my brother, the slow one.", I remarked.  
"Truly? Right now, it is hard to see any difference.", Doctor Doom replied, leading me inside the embassy.

 

"Are you going to poison me again?", I asked when he offered me a glass of whisky.  
"Would you like it?", he asked. It was another of his creepy habits. Although the scowling face of the mask wasn't moving, sometimes I got a certain sensation of a facial expression. Like now. I was ready to bet that he was arching his eyebrows behind the mask, looking genuinely curious.  
"I always appreciate special preparations for my visits.", I said and took a big gulp. "Makes me feel valued."  
"Since you obviously are feeling neglected, _again_ , this might be a long night.", Doom sighed and poured himself a huge cup of tea from samovar.   
"It's not my fault. ", I said. "You ruined my show. On purpose. And since it was live feed, there is no way to fix it."  
"I don't care about your show.", the first person-Doom said. Not good.  
"Let's have it out, now. Why did you send a Doombot instead of Darcy? You have had no objections to our friendship so far. And don't try to say it was because I helped Johnny Storm to poison her. You have tried to poison me thrice, and we're still friends."  
"Do you remember how she was after Dracula's attack?", he asked. "When you suggested establishing a hypnotic suggestion to calm her down if she panicked?"  
I nodded, quietly savoring my drink.  
"It's been long time since I had to use it. But now it's getting frequent. Ever since Darcy found out that she was pregnant with twins, she has not been well, and I have been warned about something sinister going on. I promised her nothing will happen to her or the babies this time. It is my will that she will stay in Latveria, well guarded, and without unpleasant disruptions like your show.", Doom explained calmly. "You will not expose her to vampires. Otherwise I will rip out your soul and after I've cut you enough to find out everything I want to learn about Asgardians, I will give what's left of you to Thanos."  
"You don't have magic to rip souls.", I said.  
"Precisely.", he said, and I saw his teeth flashing behind the mouth grille. "It won't be clean or easy like she would do it. Leave her alone. No jokes, Loki."  
I really did not like talking with first-person Doom. He was a nasty person. Not that I was afraid of him, since I am a god and not afraid of anyone, but I didn't like this talk about ripping souls, making experiments on me - had seen too many of them at Castle Doom's laboratories - or Thanos. It would be best to change the subject.  
"Congratulations. You two breed like rabbits."  
"Your grasp of Earth mammals is pitiful, Loki. Rabbit gestation period is 28 to 31 days.", Doom replied, sipping his tea. "The litter size is based on breed, ranging from 1 - 4 kits for smaller breeds and can be as high as 10 - 15 kits for larger breeds."  
"That's more about rabbits than I ever needed to know.", I wrinkled my nose.  
"Live and learn.", he remarked dryly.

 


	13. Night of unpleasant surprises

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ordinary propaganda event turns into night of unpleasant surprises and a bit of culture shock. Darcy's POV.

Sophie smiled at gathered crowd and waved at them. She was a pretty child, who had inherited her father's olive skin and brown hair. It was endearing to see how excited she was, standing on the platform in her white lace dress. At eighteen months, her understanding of occasion was limited to adoring at her new shiny black shoes and the dress, but princess had to start learning at some point. And bringing her with us did make wonderful propaganda.  
"Wait a bit, my dear.", I whispered to her. "When father finishes his speech, we all will wave."  
It was early autumn evening, and we were celebrating the end of reconstruction works in former Slokovia area. Their standard of living, houses, education and healthcare had been lifted to Latverian standard, and all citizens had received basic training in using their new technology. It was a giant leap for our new subjects. When I had been in Slokovia during the war, it had reminded me of the 1950s. The house Silver Sablinova's team had used didn't have a washing machine or electricity.  
The summer had been lovely, especially after I had passed the first trimester and started to feel like a living being again. I still had nightmares, but otherwise it felt like whole world was giving me a break from superhero business. Nobody bothered me and world was so quiet. My last pregnancy with vampire war and Dracula felt like a horror story from some book. This time I could spend my days working on the matters of state, caring for Sophie and even picking up an old hobby of mine. I had finally sent people to empty mother's house in Sunstrand, New York, and they had shipped back some personal belongings, including my cello. It had been my father's, then mine, and picking it up again felt like meeting an old friend again. We finally had time to play together, and Victor had announced that I should give up piano entirely. His opinion was that cello was my true instrument, and although my piano playing was technically good, it lacked the passion. I considered if I should feel hurt, but he was right. I had a thing for dark and rich sounds. Like cello or his voice.  
 

Victor finished his speech, stepping back, and people started cheering. When one had a frightful reputation, ruling was easy. Nobody needed to be punished, because nobody dared to break the law. And law was very simple; be happy and obey your king, and everything will be provided to you. My old alma mater, Culver university, had asked if I was interested in giving a guest lecture for new political science students, and I had promised to think about it. I suspected they wanted to use it for marketing material. Study with us, become a queen.  
"Dadro.", Sophie demanded in Roma language and cling to Victor, barely reaching his knees. He lifted her up and then I saw something flying from the crowd. A fire bomb. It hit the edge of platform and the wood started to burn. People screamed, I heard sounds of fighting from the edges of crowd, and Sophie started to cry. I activated my metal armor and Victor strode through the rising flames, giving weeping Sophie to my arms.  
"There is something more to this. Go!", he snapped. I nodded and pressed the blue gem on my bracelet. World flickered and swayed, and I held Sophie tightly.

When the disturbing colors disappeared, we were standing in the throne room of Castle Doom. Sophie was weeping, and I tried to calm her down.  
"Do not worry, my love.", I said, petting her back. "Father will deal with it. You are home now."  
Teleportation had made me feel slightly unwell. It was not something I liked to do, and pregnancy made it feel even more nauseating than usually. I hated leaving Victor to deal alone with these things, although he didn't need my help. There was not much I could do as long as my powers were out from the play, but it was the principle. I didn't enjoy playing the helpless, fleeing woman.  
I sat on the throne to wait. This should not take long.

 

It took much longer than I expected. After the second hour had passed, sun set down and the light disappeared from colored glass windows of throne room. Latverian autumn nights were always dark. I sat on the throne, holding sleeping Sophie against my shoulder, and looked down on the stone steps. It had been a night much like this one, eighteen months ago, when Dracula attacked. I could still tell the exact spot where my mother had died. Or Stefan. Me. Being alone in that room felt suddenly very uncomfortable. Shuddering, I stood up. Sophie sighed in her sleep, but did not wake up. I was just descending the throne steps, when the lamps on the ceiling flickered. Once. I froze where I stood, and stared at the ceiling, fear creeping into my heart. The lights flickered again, and then the throne room went dark. I was just going to panic, when I saw a spectral form near the door. It was the same damned ghost whom I had seen in Symkaria.  
Everything came back to me - the prophecy, the death it had promised, this pregnancy, Victor... My mind was suddenly so clear, not foggy, and in the darkness of the throne room, my bracelet started beeping wildly. The blocking alarm of Reed Richards went on. I set sleeping Sophie down on the throne, took the scepter from the wall and pressed the force field up. It enclosed the throne and the dais, keeping her safe.  
Still holding the scepter in my hand, I wound my fingers tightly around it and shifted. My armor snapped on place, and I reached towards the ghost to pull his outline. Ghosts had so little life force left, that any touch would hurt and incapacitate him for long enough for me stuff him inside vampire box. But it was not all like Cynthia. This ghost wasn't a ghost. The golden outline was just a reflection, a fake of some sort. When my soul force hit the ghost, my power was sucked to somewhere far away. The white line stretched further than ever before, and I felt something living waiting there. It was far stronger than my white fire, and I was on a par with Asgardians. The soul hiding there had a personal color, murky yellow, and touching it burned like hellfire. I could not hold the line; it hurt too much. My stomach cramped in pain, and I cried out, falling on my knees. The ghost gave me a smirk and disappeared.

I was officially mad now. As soon as I could stand up, I disabled the force field and took Sophie to bed. I went down to basement and started to look for parts to build a replica of astral blocker. I would not be able to reconstruct Richards' invention, but I wasn't going to try. He and Victor knew mechanics and science, but they knew absolutely nothing about souls, and I was going to work on my field. Years with Jane had taught me that building things did not require finesse; her equipment was put together by faith and duct tape, and yet it worked. Interning for her had made me rather neat welder. It had been really low blow to play Dracula attack again, and I was not going to let myself think about our earlier meeting in Slokovian root cellar. I would think about it on some other day, but now my priority was elsewhere.

A hour and half later I looked proudly at soul blocker. It didn't look very imposing: an egg-sized heap of different parts held together by welding, glue and duct tape would probably make Victor cry. But it worked splendidly. Although my attempt to bind the ghost had failed badly, I still had gotten a look at his soul force, and I never forgot a soul I had seen. I had bound a part of my own soul force with blood and a drop of daturon inside the thing, carefully sealed to avoid leaks. If the ghost came in ten meter range, the machine would establish a line to my soul, sucking my life force to power ethereal force field which would shield Sophie long enough for help to get there. It was a risky business, but I was not going to let that creepy monster to touch my baby. I took my creation and tiptoed upstairs to Sophie's room. She was sleeping peacefully. I carefully took the eight-legged horse toy from the crook of her arm, opened the back seam and pushed the device in. Sewing the seam shut took much longer, because Sophie would never forgive me if she saw I had cut Sleipnir open.

 

After I had left Sophie, I decided to check security logs to see if there had been earlier attempts. I didn't find anything about the ghost who had introduced himself as a Psi-Lord, but apparently, my phone had been screened on low level for last year, and on high level ever since I became pregnant. 85% of incoming calls were circuited to calling center, and I was ready to bet that Darcy the Doombot replied for rest of them. If she had time - if the logs were right, she was rather busy doing the usual diplomatic stuff and publicity work relating to weather services. No wonder why it had been so nice and quiet. I hid my face in my hands and tried to took it all in.  
"My queen?", Boris called me from the door. "I told the cook to make you something to eat, while you wait for master."  
Boris was Victor's oldest retainer, a friend of his father, and I didn't know how he was still alive. He must be pushing ninety now, but nobody dared to suggest a retirement. It would have earned Boris' wrath, and Victor's for upsetting Boris.  
"I'm just.. Why he would do something like this?", I asked, feeling anxious. "Why he is blocking all my calls? Why nobody told that robot is doing all my work and I'm almost imprisoned here, and I didn't even notice. I'm such a fool."  
"It's not so, my queen, not so at all.", Boris said, sitting next to me. He took my hands between his old, thick fingers, and smiled. "He is only doing what is proper. That is what we all are doing. A tribe without children is poor one, and it is husband's duty to take over wife's work when she is expecting. You must eat and rest, be happy, and let master do what he does, so he may appear honorable in the eyes of the family. It has always been thus for Zefiro."  
"Does this have anything to do with people giving me bits of food from their plates?", I asked suspiciously.  
"Everyone knows that pregnant women must feed themselves well. If they get hungry, they might have a miscarriage. And if pregnant woman passes someone who is eating, and he does not offer her food, he will wake up next morning with a boil in his eye. A powerful witch like you, it might be worse.", Boris explained seriously.

This night was full of surprises. So, my subjects bribed me with food to protect me and avoid my witch curse at same time. Considering the company I kept, it was easy to label all differences as supervillain things, and forget that Latveria was not USA. Especially the older population. They had strong belief in supernatural, cultivated by years living side by side with vampires, ghosts, Frankenstein and who knows what else. Western Latveria had a mountain with a succubus bound inside, and nobody went there. I truly should devote more time to try to understand how my people saw things. I cringed to think how many people had woken up fearing boils because I had hurried through the common room while servants ate. Ah, the culture shock.  
"I see. Thank you, Boris, for explaining this.", I said. "And for ordering the food. Victor will be pleased to hear how you take such a good care of me. Would you accompany me to dinner and explain me the traditions of Latveria? You know these things better than anyone."  
Old man smiled at me fondly.  
"Come to eat, then.", he said.


	14. Different kind of bravery

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Darcy learns it's much harder to fear for another than deal with mortal dangers herself. Darcy POV.

It was almost a midnight when he finally came home. I was waiting in the entrance hall. Victor's cloak and tunic were burned tatters, and his armor was covered in dirt and blood.   
"Welcome home, my lord.", I said. People were watching from the sides of the hall. It was a downside of having our home serve as a public building. I wanted nothing more than hug him, but it would not do.  
"Wife.", he acknowledged me, stopping where he stood. One of the robots behind him was carrying a large plastic bag, and with sudden stop, it stumbled and dropped the load. A severed head rolled out from the bag, stopping right in front of my feet. It was a woman. Blond woman, whose mouth was full of blood. Her tongue had been cut out.  
"Idiot!", Victor roared and turned quickly around. He lifted his palm and a energy blast disintegrated the unfortunate robot in front of our eyes. I swallowed, trying to compose myself. This was not moment to flinch. Not when his temperament was that explosive.  
"431-532.", I said coolly. "Collect the head and take it to the cold room to wait for tomorrow. Take the bag as well. And 616-621, you clean the metal trash from the carpet."  
Victor did not counter my orders, merely watched as the robots did as they were told.  
"I brought you spoils of war.", he said, and took a green, ornate diadem a Doombot offered for him. He wiped it carefully on the remains of his cloak before stepping closer and fixing it on my hair. It still smelled bloody. Probably from the dead woman. I decided to sink it into disinfectant as soon as he was busy with something else.   
"Thank you, Victor.", I said, and touched his arm. "Come. Even the kings deserve their rest after a battle."   
He was going to refuse, but as soon as I saw it, I added:  
"Please. I'm tired."  
"For you, I will.", he finally agreed.   
I could almost feel the tension leaving the gathered servants and officials as we started climbing up the main stairs. For it was king's duty to protect the realm, and my duty to protect them from Victor's moods.

 

In the bathroom, I promptly started to unbuckle his armor. Now that we were alone, I could see he was exhausted. He just stood there and let me undress him.  
"What the hell happened to your back?", I asked, horrified. The skin on his back was full of burned little twigs, like sprouts from the tree. I _hated_ magical battles.  
"Amora tried to transmutate me into a tree.", Victor said.   
"Get into water. I will clean you up.", I told him, and turned to get the pincers from the cabinet. I wiped my eyes angrily with the back of my hand. I hated seeing him hurt like this. I heard the sloshing as he climbed in the pool, and I spent a minute trying to decide between two disinfectants. They were both the same stuff, but he could not see my tears as long as the cabinet door was on the line of sight.  
I dropped my clothes on the floor and climbed into pool. He was leaning against the side of the pool, his ruined back towards me. I grimaced to see the blackened twigs.  
"The roots should be dead.", he said. "I set them on the fire."  
What a wonderful idea. To set his own back on fire. It was better than becoming a tree, for sure, but if Amora had not been dead already, I would have killed her. I caught one of the sprouts between pincers and pulled it out. His muscles tensed, and a thin line of blood started to run from the hole in his back. I shifted to see if there was anything remaining. Although plants did not have souls, they had a presence of sorts. A shadow of soul, maybe. The hole was empty. I didn't like the view. I had at least twenty sprouts to pull out from burned flesh. Grimly, I got to work.

 

A hour later his wounds were finally cleaned and bandaged with a alchemical ointment which accelerated healing. I sorely wished that I could heal, but I wasn't good enough with magic.  
"Can I trust you?", Victor asked as he laid on the bed.   
"Yes.", I said gently, petting his hair. I liked it. It was rather unruly for a man who wanted order in all things. "If Amora had turned you into a tree, I would have done as Apollo did to Daphne. After I killed Amora, of course."  
"It is comforting to hear you would have driven squirrels away. Doom hates them.", Victor said, his voice thick with exhaustion. "In my study, there is a safe behind my mother's portrait. The combination is 8934 839. After that, it will ask for second code, 20128. Take a small, green glass bottle and bring it here."  
I did as he asked.  
"The fluid induces cell repair, something like Odinsleep for Asgardians.", he said as I offered him the bottle. "For wounds like this, one full day should be enough. But I can't wear my armor because the magic would clash with this, and I won't wake up, even if somebody attacks me. Will you watch over me while I'm under? Doombots can do it, but I would prefer it to be you."  
"Of course I will."

 

Nothing happened during the night. When I woke up in the morning, he was too quiet, too still. It was nothing like being asleep. People flutter their lashes, their body moves a bit, they toss and turn and steal the covers. But Victor wasn't doing any of those things. It was like seeing him dead. Although it was childish, I checked if he was still breathing.

I spent most of the day knitting in the armchair and thinking what to do about the ghost. I had never believed in prophecies. So far, I hadn't felt the need to kill Franklin Richards, and the very idea of me doing so felt utterly stupid. I had nothing invested in Victor's feud with Fantastic Fools. If they didn't kill him, and stopped trying to kill me, they were welcome to do whatever they wanted.   
Chances were that Psi-Lord's prophecy was just another piece of garbage. Becoming pregnant with twins was not uncommon, since the chances were one out of thirty. Our genes were compatible, since we already had Sophie, and if the bastard had been sneaking around for a long time, as was evident by his comment about how I had not seen him earlier, he must have known that we did the reproductive thing. What was it with ghosts and my sex life? First Cynthia, now Psi-Lord? I wondered if I should learn to cast "Invisibility to undead" to enjoy my pursuits privately. It was the first level spell in D&D 3.5, and a multiclass at that, so it could not be that hard.   
I might have been able to take the prophecy seriously if it wasn't so clearly stolen from Star Wars. The idea of me dying in childbirth was ridiculous. I was hard to kill, and I lived in a castle full of people. It was highly unlikely that I would end up alone in the wilderness during the birth in late December. We had better surveillance than that. If I had survived Dracula's midwifery, I doubted I could die giving birth to twins. Besides, Victor had saved Sue and her daughter, so I could expect him to save me from possible complications. My cells weren't twisted by space radiation, while Sue's pregnancies had went badly from the beginning.   
The most worrying part was the murky yellow light. Touching his soul had hurt, and I had never seen a personal color before. He was stronger than I, which meant he was stronger than Asgardians. A big nasty. Either he was playing with my mind and enjoying freaking me out with electricity stunts, or he actually had the power to back up his threats. In that case, he was still an idiot, because giving months of prep time for Doctor Doom was utterly stupid. And Victor was his main target. I had only the side role. My death was supposed to hurt him so badly that he would miscalculate his attack against Reed Richards, end up tortured in hell and finally be killed by his own son.   
Second bad part. I suspected that Psi-Lord could somehow mess with minds. When I saw the ghost in throne room, and Richards' blocking device had started to beep, it was like someone pushed a curtain on the side and I suddenly remembered the meeting in the root cellar with utmost clarity. I didn't make a habit of forgetting death threats, even stupid ones. They were neatly labelled and rated by security officer. I had to admit that I might have been brainwashed to forget the incident in Slokovia. I didn't know how, since mind control wasn't my forte. It was something I had to check with Victor later.  
The most disturbing question was why Reed Richards had given me the birthday gift like that? Innocently hidden inside a baby monitor, and carefully tailored to work against one person, Psi-Lord. If Psi-Lord was one of the bad guys, why not to be open about it? "Hey, I heard someone wants you dead, but since it is your birthday, this helps you to block him". If it was one of the good guys... Reed Richards must know who the Psi-Lord was, and for some reason, he didn't want to be tattletale. Maybe I should do another visit to Baxter Building. Or kidnap him. Or send the minions to do my bidding and scan everyone's magical signature until they found the right one. Minions might be the best option. It was rather hard to skulk behind corners with belly like mine. 

In any case, I decided to be prudent and so I called to technical department, telling them to take saved magical signature of Psi-Lord from the archives and add it to castle security systems. If he came here again, especially considering the possibilities of mind control, everyone should be warned. Blocking the whole castle would take three days.

 

Victor looked vulnerable. I did not want to tell him about death threat the first thing he woke up. Not after I had spent last night picking pieces of roots from his back. Thinking of it made me shudder.   
I had never met Amora, but I knew her from Loki's stories. She had been a powerful sorceress from Asgard, and she had harbored unrequited crush towards Thor. Probably Amora had tried to gift Slokovia to Thor, or had supported his cultists. I didn't know. But she had frightened me, badly. No matter how intelligent he was, no matter how great sorcerer he was, Victor was still a human. Human who could die like any other. With his armor and mask it was easy to think him as something else. Armor could do much, it was almost sentient being, but all it took was one thing to get through. One spell to get through. And my life, my whole world would be gone. As simply as that.  
I sighed, and decided to keep Amora's diadem. As a reminder of things I did not want to happen.


	15. Alliance of madwomen

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Darcy learns the past isn't always as it seems. She gains unexpected ally. Darcy POV.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The story changes some canon things, mainly the order of different Avenger groups. For this story, original Avengers were Captain America, Hawkeye and Maximoff siblings. Vision joined them later. When Wanda went mad and house of M happened, the Maximoffs and Vision were kicked out and the group disbanded until Avengers-movie happened. Fury recreated the project with new members. After Thor left the group earlier in this story, Wanda spent some time with Avengers, hoping to get her place back, but she was deemed too unstable to regain her full membership, and was put on probation.

Spending whole night and day watching over unconscious husband was boring. Yes, it was important and I was flattered because he trusted me enough to ask me to do it, but it was still awfully dull. I had sunk low enough on boredom scale to read the notebook I had taken from the hideout house during the Slokovian conflict. It was puzzling. I knew that one should not trust Latverian history books, since Victor employed a creepy guy called Editor to rewrite the parts he didn't like, but apparently Fantastic Fools weren't any better. I didn't get why the notebook had a clips from Daily Bugle articles, which included a pictures of Franklin Richards celebrating his 5th birthday on 1984 and fourth birthday on 1990. Daily Bugle was not known for quality journalism, but this was ridiculous even for them. The boy was 17. Last time I talked with Sue, she had mentioned Franklin coming of age in February and they were planning something big. She had begged me to keep Victor busy so he would not spoil the party. I had, of course, declined. Although I liked Sue and we agreed on the idea of teaching women how to deal with super hero boyfriends or how to leave before they got killed, our friendship did not stretch that far.  
Sue did look oddly young for a woman who had teenage son. Probably the mutation. But why X-men got older, while Fantastic Four did not? It must be cosmic radiation thing. Spiderman did not age, while Magneto did. Did the radioactive spider bites equal to cosmic radiation? What about Hulk and gamma radiation, did it work the same? If it was the difference between those who had been born mutants or gained powers later in life, it should be an universal fact in our circles. Why Wanda Maximoff had not aged, while his twin, Pietro, looked much older than she?

My forever-in-his-thirties husband, who should be seventy now, turned on his back in his sleep but didn't flinch. Clearly he felt much better. I contacted the robot servants and ordered dinner, and then proceeded to wake him up.  
"Good evening!", I sat on bed and slid my hand under his shirt to feel the skin. It was warm and unbroken. "This is your lucky day! I have two difficult science questions for your genius to solve. Do you want the hard one or the merely annoying one first?"  
"You mistake Doom for Reed Richards. He is more interested in scientific pursuits than female charms, and that is why his wife is unhappy and constantly on verge of eloping with Namor. Doom, in the other hand, believes in seizing the moment.", he replied. "You may ask your science questions afterwards."  
"Whatever that green fluid was, you are feeling better.", I noticed as he started to unbutton my dress.  
"It accelerates biological processes. Some side effects included."

He was just kissing my inner thighs, when the interior communication system interrupted us.  
"Warning: call center protocol, hostile override in process. Incoming call: Reed Richards for Doctor Doom. "  
"You have to be kidding me!", I cursed and started hastily searching for my clothes. I hated security breaches, and I hated Reed Richards.  
"Victor? Are you there? I need to speak with you!", Reed Richards' voice sounded from the communication systems. At least he didn't have a holo screen call.  
"Doom is unavailable to you, Richards.", Victor snapped. "I'm currently attending important matters of state, and I have no time for your prattling."  
"This won't take long. I need you to send back the birthday gift I sent for Darcy. Not the dummy, but the monitor key chain. I just realized I used malfunctioning part, and it is very, very important that you send it back to me. As soon as possible."  
"There is nothing wrong with it, Richards.", I said sharply ."Is it Psi-Lord? Is he mad at you because you are blocking me against him? Tell me, Richards, who the Psi-Lord is, and why he wants me dead? Why he claims that I will die in childbirth and Victor will end up in hell, tortured, and finally murdered by his own son? Why are you protecting someone like that?"  
Richards cut the call instantly.  
"That was the annoying science question I was going to ask from you.", I said to Victor. "Do you want to hear the hard one now?"

\--

Anakin Skywalker in Star Wars. Dracula in Bram Stoker's Dracula. Davy Jones in Pirates of Caribbean. Khan in Star Trek II. Even that freaky mummy Imhotep in Mummy triology spent most of two movies trying to resurrect Anck-Su-Namun although she didn't even really love him. It was hard to concentrate to morning audience when Victor was brooding on his throne. He was cold and distant, his thoughts beyond my reach. He had informed me that he considered mind-controlling Doom's queen a mortal insult, and he expected me to remain on his side until the blocking system covered the whole castle. I had asked what he was thinking, and he had curtly told me that I would receive my orders when it was time. It had been two days ago, and we hadn't talked since. To be frank, I didn't want to talk to him. I would have kneed him in the balls for treating me like servant if he wasn't wearing the armor. I didn't want to break my kneecap, and wedding curse prevented using violence anyway.

"Your son may perform next Thursday, and if his skills prove adequate, Doom will sponsor him to study in Kronberg. After he finishes his studies, he is required to return to Latveria, and sign a contract with national orchestra. One year of service for one year of study.", Victor decided.  
The woman rose from her knees, praising him, but Victor didn't listen. He gestured to bring in the next applicant. I recognized the woman, but I didn't understand what Wanda Maximoff was doing here. Or why she was wearing a white corset baring half of her breasts in time of year when it was warmer outside than inside the castle. Supporting double morals of super heroine clothing was just plain dumb.  
"Wanda Maximoff.", Victor greeted her. "Why have you returned to Latveria?"  
"I'm asking for a boon.", she replied.  
"People requesting boons usually kneel in front of their king.", Victor said.  
"You are not my king. I'm asking a sanctuary from my father and brother. They believe I'm mad, and I don't want to bear their disdain any longer."  
"If Doom is not your king, there is no reason to grant your request."  
"I'm asking you to help me for love we once shared.", Wanda said, the sadness evident on her face.  
"Doom does not love anyone.", Victor said, stood up abruptly and left the throne room, slamming the double doors forcefully shut behind him.  
"How lovely.", I said looking at teary-eyed Wanda. "I think he managed to offend both of us in one sentence."  
Since Victor had stormed out without making his decision, I sat on his throne and took the scepter. I was officially in a bad mood now.  
"I, Darcy von Doom, the queen of Latveria, hereby grant you, Wanda Maximoff, my personal protection for one week. I will defend you against any threat you might face, and swear to give a fair consideration for your story before deciding whether to withdraw my hand.", I announced and hit the scepter once against the floor. Done and done.  
"Come. I wish to hear your story now.", I said to Wanda and gestured her to follow.  
  
  
"I don't know how to start. You must think me mad, coming here and begging sanctuary from your husband.", Wanda said, staring at her hands.  
"Tell me the truth. I swore to give fair consideration for your story. Do not try to choose your words thinking how I would react. I already know you were in love with my husband and his outburst wasn't exactly neutral either. But you knew he was married; you must have a true need if you came here regardless. I will listen to your whole story and then make up my mind."  
"It all started six years ago, when I had decided to leave the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants and my father. My brother and I wanted to be heroes, to do good, but it was not to be so...", Wanda began.

Everything had went well at the beginning. Wanda and Pietro had worked closely with Steve Rogers and Hawkeye, forming a group they called Avengers. They had gained a place with heroes and the trust of Captain America, who vouched for their honesty. Not everyone was happy with the heel-face turn. Wanda told me that after few months, she started to be plagued by a nightmares. A ghost appeared to her, telling that he knew the truth, and she would never be a true hero, because in her heart, she was twisted and evil being, not worthy of anyone's trust. He swore that one day, everyone would see her as a madwoman she was. Wanda didn't care. At first, she decided it was all just a dream. But the dreams continued, and soon, she started to see ghost when she was awake as well. In a party of Avengers, X-men and Fantastic Four, she was seen shouting threats at empty air, and people started whispering that she was hearing voices.  

"I tried to tell Steve Rogers that I had seen the ghost in that party, he was a real, living being and I knew his name. But he knew that bastard as well, and nobody believed me. Nobody believed a golden boy like him could torture me so.", Wanda's voice was resentful. "Because he was a hero. Everyone adored him. They let me keep my place, and I swore myself never to tell anyone about him. I wanted to keep my place in Avengers, and I was sure they would kick me out if I tried to make them believe. Then I met Vision, the android who joined our team, and we fell in love. Something happened to my mind. I didn't notice it at the time, but it was like my head was all fuzzy. I didn't remember, I couldn't think straight. Things just happened, and I was terrified by them, but I couldn't stop them. Sometimes, I could see the ghost smirking at me. He enjoyed it. Every moment of it."  
"What did he do to you?", I asked.  
"I'm a woman who fell in love with android, married it, and thought she had twins. My children were revealed to be just a fragments of Mephisto's soul. I was heartbroken, and then something really bad happened. Everyone blamed me for it. The house of M happened. But I didn't do it. I swear, I didn't do it.", Wanda said. "It was the ghost."

I had read about house of M. For a short time, Earth had been changed into reality where mutants were the majority and humans minority. Magneto ruled, with his family, and everyone had been given a fate they wanted to keep them content. I didn't remember much about that period. It had been during my Culver years, and I had some fuzzy memories about my father living again, but until I had became a part of super hero world, I had thought they were just dreams. The ordinary newspapers had killed the story.

  
"And when House of M ended, I said no more mutants. That one I did. He is a mutant, and he had ruined my life. I wanted revenge, and nobody believed me a hero anyway. I had lost my place among Avengers, my children and my husband. There was nothing to lose. But my powers are weaker than his. I couldn't take him out. I've always had special place in his hell because I'm only one with powers to bend the reality like him... You probably know the rest. I came here, pleaded Victor to help me and we were engaged... We were supposed to marry the next day when the Young Avengers came. We attempted to give powers back to mutants, but the ritual was interrupted. He took the Life Force and became a god. But nobody can control the life force, not even he. And when he lost the power, he turned away from me, saying I didn't believe in him. That I didn't trust him, and it was true. I didn't trust him enough.", Wanda told, looking at her hands.  
It did explain why Victor had decided to marry with fifteen minute warning and use the wedding curse. So many things were clear now.  
"Wanda. Could you use your magic to show me what the ghost looks like?", I said gravely. I had a guess, but I wanted to be sure.  
"Of course. It's not like I would ever forget his face.", she replied bitterly.  
She cast an illusion, and my reaction must have been clear from my face.  
"What did he do to you?", Wanda asked, astonished.  
"He said I was going to have twins, die in childbirth, the babies will be stolen and my husband ends up tortured in hell, for decades. When he finally escapes, he will be killed by his own son. I told the bastard that it was a crappy steal from Star Wars, and then it started actually happening.", I said sharply. "It is needless to say I believe you. Tell me of his name, and then we will kill him."  
"You have no idea how long I've waited to hear these words. He is Franklin Richards."  
"That explains.. everything."


	16. Nobody's wife, somebody's daughter

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Darcy gets fed up with Victor's rude behavior and starts protocol "Nobody's wife". (The comment about Doom not loving anyone was a hideous mistake from him). She decides to take her destiny in her own hands and seek power to defeat Franklin Richards, but like always, she gets herself in gigantic trouble while achieving her goal.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For "Protocol Nobody's wife" http://youtu.be/gWqj6Twzd5Y?t=1m06s 
> 
> Franklin Richards' powers and timeline are based on a common conspiracy theory. Although I did my best to explain things in this chapter, I recommend you read either of these links, because this story makes much more sense after that (why Darcy has to turn to another uberpowered entity for help, why Wanda isn't strong enough, what's wrong with timeline or Victor losing every time...) The first one is shorter, the second one explains more details.  
> http://majorspoilers.com/2011/08/19/major-spoilers-confidential-case-file-0001-the-franklin-richards-paradox/
> 
> http://zak-site.com/Great-American-Novel/ff_franklin.html

"Master is unavailable.", the servant returned with the same message for third time.  
"You told him that I had something extremely important to tell him?", I asked calmly.  
"Yes, my queen, but.."  
"You can say it out loud."  
"To quote the master, my queen: 'Doom has already told her to wait for her orders. Sending you here for fourth time will not change anything except it might kill you.'", the servant replied.  
"I see.", I said. "In that case, do not disturb him again. Actually, inform all servants not to disturb him until he summons you. I need a special Doombot, the queen one, for an urgent mission abroad. Call the airport and tell them to prepare the plane immediately."  
"I will attend to these tasks right now, my queen.", the servant bowed and left the room.  
I looked at Wanda.  
"If he is not coming, then he is not coming to meet this entity you said who could help us against Franklin. We are leaving without him.", I announced. "I'll leave him a message."

Darcy the Doombot was an excellent replica. It should be, since Victor had used them successfully for months to fool everyone. Only downside was that it didn't look like a whale.  
"Wanda? Could you make the Doombot look pregnant, and hide my stomach somehow? It would make leaving Latveria much easier."  
"I see what you mean. It can be arranged. Put your dress on it, since the illusion doesn't have to be so fine under the cloth. Crude illusions are easier to bind.", Wanda said.  
Fifteen minutes later I was admiring the sleek line of my body from the mirror. Wonderful.  
"Doombot unit D-A4. New commands: Use basic programming until you meet the master. When master speaks to you or looks at you, perform the following message protocol.", I said. "Start playing "Nobody's wife" by Anouk from 1:06 forwards. And turn the volume on."  
"New commands accepted. Normal protocols until unit D-A4 meets the master. Then protocol Nobody's wife, with sufficient rage parameters."  
"You really are a lot like me.", I said, admiring it's thinking. Then I grabbed the Slokovian notebook and we left, hidden under Wanda's magic.

\--

I heard him calling the moment we stepped out of taxi near the edge of a park in the hills of San Francisco. "He" was a presence of vast soul, shining with bronze light which was easily visible through the grass and earth. Some part of me, the not-human part, rejoiced in knowing he was near.  
"We are there soon." Wanda said as we hurried onwards. "When we reach the bench on the hill, we're safe, and can talk freely. Franklin's powers do not work there."  
"What is the bronze thing under the ground?", I asked. "The entity you spoke of?"  
"He is called the Dreaming Celestial."  
"It explains a lot.", I said. The siren call got louder, and as we reached the bench, I felt something much stronger than me stirring awake.  
 _"Little shard of Arishem._ ", his power touched my soul and pulled. _"Come to me."_

 

I was held on a gigantic, armored hand of bronze creature which looked like old-fashioned robot. It was filled with bronze soul fire, burning hotter than anything I had ever seen, and my brain tried to shut down in fear. As my liquid armor appeared, the creature laughed loudly.  
"Little shard of Arishem, afraid of me? So you should. It was your maker that betrayed me, stripped me of my armor and imprisoned me here."  
"Arishem did not make me.", I said, defiantly. "I was poisoned with his blood."  
"Yes, you were.", the creature allowed. "I dreamed of it happening, and I was pleased. I would never have made a shard like you, and neither would Arishem. Humans are not meant to wield the soul fire. Your very existence would enrage him, if he knew, and for that reason, you may live."  
I felt it prodding my mind, carefully but uncaring. It reminded me of Victor with his robots; replacing false circuit there, putting a new chip here, not caring how it felt like.  
"You are thinking of Franklin Richards. I know this human. He is a pet project of my former companions; a prime example of human evolution.."  
"There is nothing shining or worth admiring in Franklin Richards.", Wanda said. "He is evil, twisted creature which plays with everyone around him like a god. He needs to die."  
"Be quiet, human. You are not worthy of my attention.", the creature said. "If you speak again, you will remain quiet forever. Little shard, do you wish to kill Franklin Richards?"  
"Yes. I have do it."  
"How?"  
"If I rip my soul and follow the way to his, it will be too much, and he will explode."  
"And you will die in process.", the Celestial finished. "You know nothing of true judgement, ignorant little shard. You are not built to be the executor, it is Exitar's task. You will judge his worth, and deliver his soul to me. I will serve as your Exitar, and teach you your task."  
"Why?", I asked, not understanding.  
"Because, scion of Arishem, your father was wrong. He blindly followed our mission, and when I voiced the question on whether we were doing the right thing, he betrayed me. I have been imprisoned here, alone, since the Second Host. Millions of years in your time I've been watching this planet, changing, growing, and Franklin Richards is the shining beacon of your evolution. His very existence was carefully groomed long before his birth; one of my former kind, Ashema the Listener, has already contacted him to appraise if he is worthy to take my place. It will never happen. Nobody will replace Tiamut the Dreamer, and the Celestial Host will remain incomplete. It is my will, and you will be my tool carry it out. You are my daughter now, little shard.", he said and pressed a giant finger carefully against my forehead. My mind broke, and I screamed.

 

\--

It was late night when I saw Victor's tall shadow climbing up the hill. I sat on the bench with Wanda, waiting. For the first five hours of returning from Tiamut the Dreamer, I had tried not to think anything, because my mind was a raging whirlwind, all pieces broken and setting in new places, making formations which defied reason. I was too scared to probe yet.  
"What will we tell him?", Wanda asked.  
"I think we have to tell him the truth.", I said. "Franklin can't mislead him here. I know what to do to Franklin Richards' soul, but getting to him is the hardest part. I don't usually plan my battles, but my husband is the most meticulous planner. Victor knows Fantastic Fools better than anyone, and as soon as he understands, he has every reason to help us."

"Get up.", Victor said to me, his voice angry and commanding. "Doom does not accept stunts like this one. You disappeared, hid yourself with magic, and--"  
He stopped where he stood, looking at me, and activated a light on his armor. He pushed my chin up carefully, peering in my eyes for a while, and let his hand drop.  
"What did you do this time?", he sighed, his voice gentler but immensely frustrated. "Your magic is pulsing all over the place."  
"We can talk about that later. Now that you are finally not unavailable, listen. Wanda told me her story. She has had dealings with our ghost before, and she told me his name. He is Franklin Richards."

"This is the resting place of Sleeping Celestial.", Wanda said, gesturing towards the hill. "He was imprisoned there during the Second Host, when other Celestials ripped his soul from his body and sealed it inside. We found it during our search. Although he is imprisoned, his body makes this a free zone. Reality warps do not work here."  
"I remember this place; I and others fought here, once, when mutants tried to free him from his prison. Interesting for you to choose this place for our discussion, miss Maximoff. You practically made yourself powerless.", Victor's eyes flashed behind the mask. "Does the presence of Sleeping Celestial explain your sudden change, my dear?"  
"He.. I think he adopted me.", I said, feeling bad for what I was about to say. "But before we speak more of him, there is something you need to know. It's answer to that hard science question I wanted to discuss before I left." I took a chart from my pocket and opened it. It was a result of mine and Wanda's combined information, done during the flight. The chart was big as a tourist map and filled with notes, photographs and newspaper clippings from the Symkarian notebook.

"This is the beginning of our timeline. You and Reed Richards attended to Empire State University on 1961. You were seventeen at the time, am I correct?"  
"Yes.", Victor agreed.  
"Franklin Richards was born seven years later, on the fall of 1968. The pregnancy, as far as we know, took twelve months instead of nine. Sue had difficult pregnancy, and only reason why they survived was the Cosmic Control Rod Reed Richards stole from Annihilus. The rod manipulated matter and energy, and retarded aging process."  
"So you suggest that Franklin Richard's powers mirror those of the Control Rod.", Victor noted.  
"Yes, but more importantly, time began to slow.", I said.  
"Franklin's powers became obvious very early. F4 had run-ins with powerful foes like Annihilus and Ultron. But he somehow.. stopped. In this picture, taken on 1973, he is supposed to be five years but looks more like three. This picture, taken in 1976, and he still looks like three year old instead of eight. One can mistake between five and three years, but not between eight and three.", Wanda said, her voice bitter. "By November 1980, 12-year-old Franklin is seven. The trend continues, on 1987, which should be his nineteenth birthday, he hovers between 8 and 11 years. "  
"I'm starting to see what you are after.", Victor said. "And then, Sue was pregnant with Valeria for the first time. That miscarriage was odd thing - I remember the boy claiming later that he had sent her into future."  
"Like any child, jealous for attention, would love to do to a new baby.", Wanda replied. "Have you noticed how increasingly unlucky everyone is with their children, especially if they are close to Franklin? He just loves being the center of attention, adored and worshiped by all other heroes, and he does not like competition. I wouldn't put it below him to be responsible for his sister's death before she was born. Spider-Man is his favorite hero, and he just ends up being forever young and single, to a point of making a deal with Mephisto to wipe out his marriage from everyone's minds, just because he can't handle the death of his aged aunt? What kind of man chooses his old aunt instead of his wife? Cyclop's baby was poisoned and sent into future, and he never came back. And I end up falling love with an android and when I had twins, they were revealed to be just a shards of Mephisto's soul, not really existing? Why any woman would believe that she can have babies with a robot? I'm the only one who has similar powers to Franklin, and it gives me a special place in his hell. Mephisto has been just his gauntlet, doing his bidding ever since Franklin threatened to destroy him. You should know - you were the one who sent him there to defeat Mephisto."  
"Yes, I did.", Victor nodded. "This is very disturbing picture you are painting."  
"You told me that you gained immortality through magical experiments when you were in your thirties, meaning the beginning of 1970s. Why Reed, Sue, Johnny and Ben are all stuck in their thirties as well? They have no magic. Franklin should be almost fifty by now, how he can have a mother who looks 34? Why Magneto is old and grey, while you and F4 aren't, although he is less than ten years older than you?", I asked.  
"And think of this, Victor. Think of it, and do not give in to your temper before you have thought it through. How is it possible, no matter what you do, you end up always the second-best? The second-best sorcerer, the second-best scientist? It makes no sense. With that much skill and devotion, you should have won at least sometimes. But Reed Richards just springs your every trap, and you end up being dead somewhere. Then, when things start to become boring at Baxter Building, you miraculously escape from hell, another dimension, or wherever you have been imprisoned that time. Why? Why you never come back at inconvenient time for Reed Richards? I find it hard to believe that when you ended up ruling the world, you would give up it in less than a month, just for being bored. It doesn't sound at all like you, Victor. It sounds like an act of a child."  
His breath was a sharp hiss, and his fingers clenched the side of bench so tightly that I could hear the wood crack, but I pressed on:  
"Think of it. Remember what it felt like? I bet you can't truly recall your reasons. Why would you feel so insecure that you unconsciously re-created the dead heroes to fight against you when you held Beyonder's powers? You have better command of yourself than anyone I know. You would not do such a thing. It does not make sense."  
"It only makes sense if you are ready to believe that we are all playthings of a twisted-minded child, who uses his powers to puppeteer. He is like a child in toy store - Green Hulk is starting to become boring, I want a Red Hulk instead, and he should be even more terrifying! How would Spider-Man look like as a woman? Oh, my favorite hero died, and it's not fun, let's bring her back! He wants to be child forever, and his powers make sure that nobody has ever paid attention on why people around him are forever young, forever doing the same things, never moving on with their lives.", Wanda said. "Now you know. Are you going to be his puppet, or help us?", she demanded.  
"Doom is no one's puppet.", Victor snapped, his voice cold and furious. "I am going to kill the brat."  
"Killing him will not be enough. You know as well as I do that the moment you kill him, Reed Richards jumps into time machine, and just brings him back. We need to remove him in such a way that he never returns.", I said.

 


	17. The sacrifice

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Saving the world never comes cheaply. Darcy POV.

**Latverian embassy, New York**

"This plan is unacceptable.", I said, hitting the table with my fist. "I will not do it."  
"There is no other way.", Victor said calmly. "The blocking system is only temporary solution. Richards will figure way to undo it in a day or two, and our time is running out. This is the time for desperate measures."  
He was wearing the bracelet. Woman's jewelry should have looked odd, but he pulled it off, somehow. Doom was the most vulnerable of us. Wanda had her powers shielding her, and I had my new father. The very thought was freaking me out.  
"I agree with him.", Wanda said. "If anyone notices Franklin Richards is dead, his father will bring him back, and things will be worse than ever before. We only have this one chance. Victor knows what he is doing; he has done it before."  
"I will not!", I screamed at them.  
"If you will not do it, you are choosing your own death, our children being raised by our enemies, and you condemn me to be tortured in Mephisto's hell for decades. Is that what you truly want for me?", Victor asked.  
I could not answer. There was only one answer, when he chose his words like that, and I did not want to say it. I hid my face in my hands, hoping that I could just not answer, and it all would go away.  
 _It will not go away, little shard_ , a male voice said in my mind. Hearing the Dreaming Celestial like this chilled me to the bone, because I remembered his voice. I remembered it from the time machine, when Victor had sent me a hundred years into future to gain power. And I knew what he was going to say next.  
 _"A sacrifice. A salvation.",_ the voice whispered, just like I remembered. And then he added: _"There can be no salvation without sacrifice, daughter. You know it is so."_  
I did. I knew it with certainty like a human knows her own body, recognizes her own voice, knows night from the day. The knowledge was built inside the far reaches of my mind, in odd depths where I did not want to wander. Tiamut the Dreamer had put it there.  
"Are you all right?", Wanda asked.  
"No, I'm not all right, and I will never be all right after you force me to do this.", I lashed out at them, my mind filled with images of future pain.  
"But you will do it?", Victor inquired.  
"Yes. I will do it.", I said, stood up and left the room. I could not bear looking at him. 

\--- 

"Before you go, I want to ask for your forgiveness.", Victor said in the darkness of our room. "For not treating you with respect and.. disintegrating your rooms when I got your message. I love you. Sometimes I wish I didn't. It would make this easier to bear."  
"You always have my forgiveness.", I said. "I'm sorry for all of this. For what I will do tomorrow. I never wanted to leave you."  
"I know.", he said, his voice rough with emotion. "I don't know how long it will take, how many years, but I will come for you. I swear it."  
  
\-- 

Spider Phone beeped at 8.40 the following morning with text message from Wanda.  
"It's done. Target was on his way to meeting with Dr Samson. I hexed the traffic on 41st street and the sewer on opposite side of the embassy is flowing over. Target will walk by the gate within ten minutes. I'm following and providing hexes as needed."  
It was my cue. I took a bag I had packed previous night, and walked out.  
  


The guard robots stopped me at the embassy gates.  
"Move aside.", I told, giving them a cold stare.  
"I'm sorry, Your Majesty, but the king has forbidden us to let you through.", the Doombot said. I answered by taking the pistol from my bag and loading it deftly with armor-piercing bullets, specifically made for this purpose. Glancing sideways, I noticed one of the doombots stiffening a bit. Probably trying to contact security. I pulled the safety off and shot it.  
Doombots tried to fight back, but couldn't do much due to Victor's orders which allowed the force only up to stunning. All were older model; their stunner beans were useless against my armor. I was just kicking the last one when I felt my love's golden light approaching.  
"Where do you think you are going?", Victor asked, crossing his arms. He was an imposing sight, standing there in full battle armor and cape.  
"I will not be your prisoner.", I told him defiantly. "You will not keep me locked in here any longer."  
"It is for your best.", he said, looking down on me. "If you insist on running away at every opportunity, I will transfer you to a more secure location."  
"You will not!", my voice rose higher, getting looks from people on the street.  
"How you dare to defy me? I am Doom, and you are not my equal. You are my wife, my subject, and you will do as I say.", Victor roared in anger, and hit me with his open, armored hand.  
The impact sent me flying like a rag doll. Although my armor slipped to protect my belly under my clothes, it still hurt. I landed on the gravel, face down, and my face burned with pain at where he had hit me. My stomach contracted, and it felt like I could not breathe. And just on time, when I rolled on my back and tried to get up, I saw a murky yellow light stopping right behind the gates.  
"Hey! That's just wrong.", Franklin Richards said, sounding self-righteous just like his father. "A man should not beat his pregnant wife."  
"On Latverian soil, Doom is the law, boy.", Victor snapped at him. I rose on my knees and shifted, keeping a careful watch at the soul lights. Franklin looked Victor in the eye, practically fuming with his desire for justice, and then I saw Victor doing it. 

  
The Ovoid mind transfer was not visible to plain eye, but for my ethereal sight, it was a blur of different colors. In an blink of an eye, Victor had established a contact with Franklin Richards' mind and switched their bodies. His golden light was inside the boy behind wrought iron gates, and Franklin's dirty yellow light was in a man in front of me.  
Steeling myself, I sent a line to Franklin Richards' soul. Although my mind was still raw and hurting, my power flowing from the shard-father was stronger now, strong enough not to feel burn. Franklin panicked, not being in his own body, and unable to use his powers due the bracelet which was still on Doom's wrist. Franklin's soul was not firmly attached to strange body, and it pulled free. Tears blinded my eyes.  
He fell on the ground, and I saw his brown eyes looking at me, not understanding what I had done. Knowing that it was Franklin inside did not help. It was Victor's body, his voice gasping in pain. I pulled Franklin's soul until it was loose.  
 _"You have judged him guilty, shard-daughter. I will take him from here."_ , Tiamut the Dreamer said, reaching from the depths of my mind and collecting Franklin's soul through our connection. I didn't listen, I didn't care. My husband had fallen to ground, his body empty and dying. I threw myself over him, feeling Victor's last breath warm on my face, and screamed my pain into sky.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Only epilogue to go. And there will be a third part, called "The price of victory" on Wednesday.


	18. Epilogue

Franklin Richards turned away and pushed himself through the crowd gathered on the street. His body was thin and not very strong, but it worked well for slipping through the available openings.  
"You did well, son!", a middle-aged woman said. The boy considered asking why she hadn't done anything herself if uttering a two sentences was such acclaimed feat, but he had no time for empty chatter today. 

The boy moved fast. He had just passed the crowd, and was striding along the street towards the subway station located one kilometer to west. A quick check had confirmed that he had the travel card in his wallet, and he hoped it would have suitable charge for a travel. He didn't pay much attention to happenings around him, and almost fell when an armored man out from sky suddenly landed on the pavement. The boy cursed in English when the newcomer pushed him aside. It took a moment to steady himself; his depth perception was not fully adjusted yet. 

He recognized Kristoff Vernand, Doom's adopted son, who had spent last ten years in exile after a failed coup. The prince had a reputation of wastrel and playboy, who enjoyed life of privilege but didn't do much to carry the responsibilities. But the boy knew better. Kristoff might be all those things, but inside, he was still a son shaped by his father. All sons are. He would come if his father asked him to, and true to himself, he was one minute too late. It was not truly Kristoff's fault, the boy admitted to himself, it was merely a matter of proper timing. 

Kristoff looked at the boy, and was going to say something, when they heard a scream. It cut through the low murmur of people gathered on street and noises of traffic. It was a wordless cry of pain, the kind which followed death's arrival. Kristoff turned towards the sound and activated the jet packs of his armor, surging upwards and over the iron fence of Latverian embassy. A foolish risk, boy clicked his tongue disapprovingly. It had been years since the armor had been worn, and Kristoff could not know if the invisible defenses still recognized him. For a second the boy slowed his steps, then shook his head and started walking again at quicker pace. There was nothing he could do here.

  

He took the subway, like every Tuesday, but this time, he took the eastern route instead northern line. There was nothing wrong with his mental health. Wanda Maximoff, who also belonged to famous Doctor Samson's clientele, had mentioned that the boy had bad habit of skipping his appointments when the weather was nice. It was nice today. Sun was shining. The boy found it slightly insulting, because a proper death required rain. Rain was dramatic, it symbolized sorrow. For a death like this, however, sunshine guaranteed more publicity.

 

Finally the boy reached Greenwich village. The journey had been unpleasant. He was not accustomed to people violating his personal space, and the subway had been full of people standing close enough to touch him. The smells were worse. Like it was not enough to pollute the air with exhaust fumes, but most of his fellow passengers had tried to dull their own senses with liberal application of wildly clashing perfumes. Most disgusting smell was the fake forest shaving lotion emanating from his own skin. He didn't have enough growth on his chin to justify shaving, and the boy had always felt that unscented soap and plain water were enough for anyone attempting the task.

177A Bleecker Street was just like the boy remembered it. He could feel the power three-story town house emanated, and was pleased. The Sanctum Sanctorum housed Earth's Sorcerer Supreme, and it was clear that Stephen Strange was at home.  
The boy climbed up the front stairs and pressed the doorbell, wondering how long it had been since he had performed this simple task. He usually had lackeys to open doors, and if they were not available, he had a habit of going through the walls. He had once told Spiderman that doors were for peasants, but it was a sentence from old life, not truly applicable for his current situation.  
The door was opened by Wong, Strange's manservant and protector.  
"Tell your master that I've arrived to explain the sudden tremble in Earth's magic he felt. I require his assistance.", Franklin Richards said.

 

"What have you done, Victor?", the Sorcerer Supreme said when the boy was led to sorcerer's inner chamber. The boy smiled, because he would have been disappointed if Doctor Strange had been so easily misled. For a magician, physical body was just an empty shell, not truly important. His true form was what it had always been.  
"I saved the world, Stephen.", the boy said, his voice odd and high in his ears. "Take the eye of Agamotto and look upon this body. See the truth with your own eyes, so we can start discussing what needs to be done."


End file.
